Revaluing Renaissance Art - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0754601692 ISBN 13: 9780754601692

Publisher: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2000

Synopsis

Michelangelo gave his painting of "Leda and the Swan" to an apprentice rather than hand it over to the emissary of the Duke of Ferrar, who had commissioned it. He was apparently disgusted by the failure of the emissary - who was probably more used to buying pigs than discussing art - to accord the picture and the artist the value they deserved. Any discussion of works of art and material culture implicitly assigns them a set of values. Whether these values be monetary, cultural or religious, they tend to constrict the ways in which such works can be discussed. The variety of potential forms of valuation becomes particularly apparent during the Italian Renaissance, when relations between the visual arts and humanistic studies were undergoing rapid changes against an equally fluid social, economic and political background. In this volume, 13 scholars explicitly examine some of the complex ways in which a variety of values might be associated with Italian Renaissance material culture. Papers range from a consideration of the basic values of the materials employed by artists, to the manifestation of cultural values in attitudes to dress and domestic devotion. By illuminating some of the ways in which values were constructed, they provide a broader context within which to evaluate Renaissance material culture.

About this title

Review

Revaluing Renaissance Art offers some interesting insights on the evaluation of knowledge and things in Renaissance Italy --Mary Bergstein -- Renaissance Quarterly, Volume LIV, Number 4.2, Winter 2001, pp. 1598-1599

a welcome addition to the growing body of literature on consumption and consumerism in the Renaissance --Rosi Prieto Gilday -- CAA Reviews

an engaging guide to new perspectives on the definition and the appreciation of Renaissance art in its time and for ours (Patricia Rubin) -- The Times Literary Supplement, No. 5113, 30 March 2001, p. 32

we [must think] more about what exactly we mean by worth or value. This book makes a valuable contribution to the maturation of this process. --Carol Richardson -- The Art Book, Volume 8, Issue 4, September 2001, pp. 41-42

Edition details

• Publisher: Ashgate Publishing Limited
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0754601692
• ISBN 13: 9780754601692
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 256
• Editor: Neher Gabriele, Shepherd Rupert