Art in Renaissance Florence

Introduction
Florence was a crucial locus for developments in Italian art throughout the peninsula in the period between 1300 and 1600, and so this bibliography will concern itself with art created in the city rather than by Florentine artists working outside of Florence. To a considerable degree, the pervasive influence of Giorgio Vasari’s Lives of the Artists (1550, 1568) affected all later historiography, which followed the patriotic Florentine in his claims that everything of importance throughout the Renaissance originated in the city and spread from there elsewhere. That myth was challenged only in the latter part of the 20th century. Nevertheless, no matter how Vasari exaggerated Florence’s importance, the city was a major center. It was wealthy particularly from the wool trade and through dominance in banking throughout Europe, and the city’s humanists early advised private and corporate patrons about the advantages to their reputations and to that of the city of commissioning art and architecture. Although in the 14th century, Florence was governed as a guild republic, and the major guilds commissioned most of the major works of art, by 1434, Cosimo de’ Medici rose to power, and thereafter except for brief intervals (1494–1512; 1527–1530), the Medici family controlled the city. In the mid-16th century, the family consolidated its power and ruled over all of Tuscany as grand dukes, and changed the nature of commissions to those flattering its rule.
General Overviews
Other than Andres, et al. 1988 and Busignani and Bencini 1974–1993, most overviews of Florentine art, 1300–1600, cover a specific theme or medium over those centuries. For example, Crum and Paoletti 2006 considers art within its social context over that three-century span.
Andres, Glen M., John M. Hunisak, and A. Richard Turner. The Art of Florence. 2 vols. New York: Abbeville, 1988.
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Lavishly illustrated pictorial history of the city of Florence and its architecture, painting, and sculpture in two mammoth volumes illustrated with seven hundred plates, most in color. Covers briefly Florentine medieval art but focuses on Florence from 1200 to 1600. With glossary and brief bibliography.
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Busignani, Alberto, and Raffaello Bencini. Le Chiese di Firenze. 5 vols. Florence: Le Lettere, 1974–1993.
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Volumes surveying Florence’s churches and their contents by the quarters of the city in which they are located. Volume 1 deals with Sto. Spirito; volume 2, S. Maria Novella; volume 3, Santa Croce, volume 5, the Cathedral. Volume 4 is not yet issued. Well illustrated and documented. Some color plates.
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Crum, Roger J., and John T. Paoletti, eds. Renaissance Florence: A Social History. Cambridge, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
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A series of essays by nineteen experts in the field covers the social history of Florence from the 14th through 16th century through looking at the city’s art and architecture as lived expressions of its identities existing and changing through time and space. Explores a wide variety of themes from material culture to architecture, urban design, and gendered spaces, as well as the city’s grand public monuments. Eighty-four black-and-white illustrations.
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Reference Works
The single best reference work that covers all issues in the period is Oxford Art Online. Most of the following reference sources introduce the reader to a topic, such as Garzelli and de la Mare 1985 on miniature painting, Pope-Hennessy 1996 on sculpture, or Heydenreich and Lotz 1996 and Murray 1986 on civic, religious, and domestic architecture. Only Garzelli and de la Mare 1985 is limited to Florence. The Touring Club Italiano 2003 guide and Paatz and Paatz 1940–1954, on all the churches of Florence, are indispensable research sources on the city’s buildings and decoration.Wackernagel 2011 introduces the reader to the artist’s world within the city. Vasari 1878–1885 offers the revised 1568 edition of Vasari’s collected biographies of Florentine artists and is the fundamental period source.
Garzelli, Annarosa, Garzelli, Annarosa and Albinia de la Mare, eds. Miniatura fiorentina del rinascimento, 1440–1525. 2 vols. Florence: Giunta regionale toscano and La Nuova Italia Editrice, 1985.
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Survey of Florentine miniaturists and scribes active during the manuscript period and the age of incunable production. Elaborately documented with extensive bibliographies. Sixteen color plates and more than eleven hundred black-and-white illustrations.
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Heydenreich, Ludwig H., and Wolfgang Lotz. Architecture in Italy, 1400–1600. Translated by Mary Hottinger. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin, 1996.
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Heydenreich’s history of quattrocento architecture by region emphasizes Florence. Lotz’s volume on the 16th century discusses only Michelangelo at San Lorenzo, Vasari, Ammannati, and Buontalenti. Revised and updated by Paul Davies and Deborah Howard as two freestanding paperbacks with fundamental and extensive bibliography intended for graduate students and specialists. Three hundred and sixty black-and-white figures and plans and some color plates. Originally published in 1974.
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Murray, Peter. The Architecture of the Italian Renaissance. 3d ed. New York: Schocken, 1986.
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Basic history of Italian 14th through 16th-century architecture arranged chronologically by region and by architect. Focuses on the 15th and 16th centuries. Intended for the general reader and for students. Two hundred and two black-and-white illustrations.
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Oxford Art Online (Grove Art Online)
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Offers biographical entries and bibliographies on artists and patrons. Also provides articles on materials and techniques, on major sites, and categories of artistic production. Kept up to date online.
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Paatz, Walter, and Elisabeth Valentiner Paatz. Die Kirchen von Florenz, ein kunstgeschichtliches Handbuch. 6 vols. Frankfurt: V. Klostermann, 1940–1954.
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Authoritative guide to the churches of Florence, focusing on their architectural features, decoration, and contents in scholarly detail. Also notes commissions no longer in situ. Arranged alphabetically by churches’ names and illustrated with churches’ ground plans. Provides bibliography.
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Pope-Hennessy, John. An Introduction to Italian Sculpture. 3 vols. 4th ed. London: Phaidon, 1996.
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Introduction to Italian sculpture: volume 1, the late 13th and 14th century; volume 2, the 15th century; and volume 3, the 16th and 17th centuries, structured in essays about regional schools or types of sculpture followed by thumbnail biographies and updated bibliographies with discussion of masterpieces by each artist. Many full-page black-and-white illustrations. Originally published in 1955
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Touring Club Italiano. Firenze e Provincia. Milan: Touring Club Italiano, 2003.
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Detailed authoritative guide summarizing the history of Florence and analyzing in detail the city’s plan, structures of all types, and contents of the notable buildings open to the public. Provides ground plans with numbered keys to the objects within churches and buildings. Many maps, bibliography according to topic. A scholar’s and graduate student’s guide to the city and its suburbs.
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Vasari, Giorgio. Le opere di Giorgio Vasari: Con nuove annotazioni e commenti di Gaetano Milanesi. 9 vols. Florence: G. C. Sansoni, 1878–1885.
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The basic scholarly edition of the fundamental source on Italian artists between the late 13th century and the late 16th century written by an important literary and artistic figure of the 16th century. Arranged chronologically in a biological schema of stages of development culminating in the perfection represented by Michelangelo. Florentine-centric but artists from other regions are covered, often with distortions.
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Wackernagel, Martin. The World of the Florentine Renaissance Artist: Projects and Patrons, Workshop and Art Market. 2d ed. Translated by Alison Luchs. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: University of Toronto Press, 2011.
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Translation of Der Lebensraum des Künstlers in der florentinischen Renaissance, first published in 1938. Pioneering discussion of Florentine workshop practices, the functioning of the art market, and of the interactions between artists and patrons covering separately architecture, sculpture, and painting, and public and domestic patronage.
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SINGLE BUILDINGS
This section deals with specific buildings or architectural complexes in Florence whose decoration was important throughout the period, such as Haines 2001 on the Duomo complex, Rubinstein 1995on the Palazzo della Signoria (Vecchio), and Zervas and Grifoni 1996 on Orsanmichele.
Haines, Margaret, ed. Santa Maria del Fiore: The Cathedral and Its Sculpture; Acts of the International Symposium for the VII Centenary of the Cathedral of Florence, Florence, Villa I Tatti, 5–6 June 1997. Fiesole, Italy: Cadmo, 2001.
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Anthology of authoritative essays by experts in the field pertaining to the history of the various phases of sculptural decoration planned for the cathedral, with dozens of good black-and-white illustrations.
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Rubinstein, Nicolai. The Palazzo Vecchio, 1298–1532: Government, Architecture, and Imagery in the Civic Palace of the Florentine Republic. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.
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The history of the Florentine Republic’s seat of government from the late 13th century through to the Medici family’s final takeover in 1532. Discusses the building’s expansion, relationship to its site, and interior transformations. Covers the objects commissioned for it including those that are no longer extant or in the building, and the objects transferred to it. Sixty-one black-and-white illustrations.
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Zervas, Diane Finiello, ed., and Paola Grifoni. Orsanmichele a Firenze. 2 vols. Modena, Italy: F. C. Panini, 1996.
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Lavishly produced two volumes cover the architecture and pictorial and sculptural decoration of Orsanmichele. Volume 1 covers the building and its decorations from its origins in the 14th century through its transformations in the 20th century. Eleven chapters concern Orsanmichele in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. Volume 2 is illustrated with 984 color photographs and diagrams.
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Textbooks
No textbook spans the period in question although Partridge 2009 treats the 15th and 16th century in Florence. Paoletti and Radke 2012 handles the entire period from the standpoint of patronage but considers Rome and Venice, as well as other areas to a lesser extent. Hartt and Wilkins 2011 treats the three centuries in Florence in the context of the history of all other areas in the peninsula and organizes its text according to stylistic developments. Olson 1992 works well as an introduction to sculpture of the 14th through 16th centuries, suitable particularly for undergraduates.
Hartt, Frederick, and David G. Wilkins. History of Italian Renaissance Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture. 7th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2011.
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Survey of Italian art and architecture from 1260 to 1600 focusing on Florence. Develops the history in regional schools, master-pupil genealogies, and the evolution of style. Wilkins updated the survey to add information about the patronage, materials and techniques, and historical context of each object and to include centers outside of Florence. Hundreds of illustrations, the majority in color. With glossary, site index, and general bibliography. Intended for undergraduate classes.
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Olson, Roberta J. M. Italian Renaissance Sculpture. London: Thames and Hudson, 1992.
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Surveys sculpture in Italy from 1260 to 1600, following a Vasarian schema of the stages of the Renaissance and focusing on Florence. Intended as an overview for the general public and students. One hundred and seventy-one illustrations, several in color.
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Paoletti, John T., and Gary Radke. Art in Renaissance Italy. 4th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2012.
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Covers Florence from the 14th through the 16th century in the context of contrasting analysis of Rome and Venice. Limited discussion of other areas. Emphasis on regional traditions and on specific patronage and context of each monument and the resulting effects. Provides genealogies, time charts, and bibliographies. Textbook for undergraduates but useful for graduate students as well. Hundreds of illustrations, most in color.
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Partridge, Loren. Art of Renaissance Florence, 1400–1600. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009.
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Constructs a history of 15th- and 16th-century Florentine art in terms of the “shifting political, religious and intellectual currents” prevalent in Florence. Within a chronological arrangement divides material into chapters by types of commissions, for example, freestanding public sculpture, ecclesiastical architecture, altarpieces, chapels, and so on. Provides a genealogy of the Medici family, thumbnail biographies of artists, a glossary, and an extensive bibliography. Intended for graduate students and advanced undergraduates. More than two hundred color illustrations.
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Journals
Only the Mitteilungen exclusively publishes Florentine topics; however, the Renaissance Quarterlyand Renaissance Studies often accept art historical essays concerning the city. The Sixteenth Century Journal handles interdisciplinary research in that century. Of course, other leading general art historical journals occasionally publish articles relevant to Florentine art between 1400 and 1600, but they are omitted here.
Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz.
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Journal published by the Kunsthistorisches Insititut in Florence (Max-Planck Institut) focused on Florentine art throughout time, not just during the Renaissance. Major scholarly publication; articles usually publish new documentation and often new photographs of objects under discussion.
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Renaissance Quarterly.
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Journal published four times a year by the Renaissance Society of America that specializes in interdisciplinary research on the European Renaissance. Articles often published with new documents and new primary source materials. Limited black-and-white photographs.
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Renaissance Studies.
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British journal publishing interdisciplinary research on the European Renaissance that includes articles on art history usually argued in terms of new primary sources and documentary discoveries. Limited black-and-white illustrations.
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Sixteenth Century Journal.
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American journal focused on the European 16th century. Publishes art historical articles typically argued in terms of new literary or documentary evidence. Interested in interdisciplinary research.
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Fourteenth Century
The handbook Cennini 2004 is the basic period source on the materials and techniques of 14th-century Tuscan painters and, to some extent, sculptors. Its precepts are valuable in understanding how art was made in later centuries as well. White 1987 is a detailed history of Italian 14th-century art and architecture providing a wealth of information and images. Norman 1995 is more limited in its scope, covering only Siena, Florence, and Padua and taking a topical approach to the material.
Cennini, Cennino. Il libro dell’arte della pittura: Il manoscritto della Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze, con integrazioni dal Codice Riccardiano. Edited by Antonio P. Torresi. Ferrara, Italy: Liberty House, 2004.
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An indispensable guide to the materials and techniques of 14th-century Italian art, particularly for Giotto and the artists he trained or directly influenced, as Cennini was the pupil of Agnolo Gaddi, the son of Taddeo Gaddi, Giotto’s assistant. Written in clear prose and short chapters intended for the use of other artists. This edition collates the two extant manuscripts and provides a detailed explanation of all the terminology. Several black-and-white illustrations.
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Norman, Diana, ed. Siena, Florence, and Padua: Art, Society, and Religion 1280–1400, 2 vols. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press in association with the Open University, 1995.
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Two-volume study of Florentine, Paduan, and Sienese late-13th-century and 14th-century art, urban design, and architecture. Volume 1 comprises interpretive essays on patrons, politics and art, urban design, Duccio and Giotto, and materials and techniques within their cultural context. Volume 2 is a series of case studies. Each volume has hundreds of illustrations with many in color.
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White, John. Art and Architecture in Italy, 1250–1400. 2d ed. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, UK: Penguin, 1987.
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Fundamental history of Italian art done for the Pelican History of Art Series. Traces developments from the mid-13th through the 14th century. Covers all three media and all geographical locations in a chronological presentation but presents a comprehensive picture of Florentine art and architecture in the period. Extensive bibliography. Nearly four hundred illustrations, many in color. Intended for graduate students.
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ARCHITECTURE
The studies in Haines 2001, Rubinstein 1995, and Zervas and Grifoni 1996 (all cited under Single Buildings) cover the city’s major public monuments. To them can be added Trachtenberg 1971 on the Cathedral’s Campanile and the author’s more general book (Trachtenberg 1997) on the urban design of the 13th- to 14th-century core of the city’s plan. The monograph Krüger 2007; Franklin, et al. 2009, a volume of collected essays; and the edited catalogue Neri Lausanna 2005 (cited underSculpture) cover Arnolfo di Cambio, the city’s major architect in the 14th century.
Franklin, David, Julian Gardner, and Margaret Haines, eds. Arnolfo’s Moment: Acts of an International Conference, Florence, Villa I Tatti, May 26–27, 2005. Florence: Leo S. Olschki, 2009.
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Anthology of essays by experts in the field from a conference related to the exhibition of 2005. The majority deal with Arnolfo’s architecture and sculpture at the Cathedral and his influence on later Florentine art. The essays also cover his prior commissions. About seventy small black-and-white illustrations.
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Krüger, Ingrid. Arnolfo di Cambio als Architekt und die Stadtbaukunst von Florenz um 1300. Worms, Germany: Wernersche Verlagsgesellschaft, 2007.
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Analyzes architecture attributed to Arnolfo in Florence, focusing on the Badia, Sta. Croce, and the original block of the Palazzo della Signoria together with his architectural tabernacles in Rome, in an effort to define his style and its evolution. Nearly three hundred small black-and-white illustrations.
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Trachtenberg, Marvin. The Campanile of Florence Cathedral: “Giotto’s Tower.” New York: New York University Press, 1971.
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Authoritative text on the stages of the Campanile’s erection from its design through to completion of the architectural project and decoration with sculptures. Includes an appendix of relevant documents. Profusely illustrated with ten color plates and more than three hundred black-and-white figures.
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Trachtenberg, Marvin. Dominion of the Eye: Urbanism, Art and Power in Early Modern Florence. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
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An important re-investigation of 13th- and 14th-century urban design in Florence’s two major piazze, the Piazza della Signoria and the Piazza del Duomo, which argues they were carefully planned to respond to and determine the vantage of their spectators. Illustrated with diagrams and many photographs.
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PAINTING
Florence’s most important painter in the 14th century was indisputably Giotto, and he trained the major artists of the next generation, as Cennini reminds us. Derbes and Sandona 2004 is a volume of diverse essays that cover Giotto’s later career in Florence: Ladis’s edited volumes (Ladis 1998,Ladis 1982) assemble many of the most valuable essays about Giotto published in the 20th century. The two-volume Schwarz and Theis 2004 provides an up-to-date account of the documents pertaining to Giotto’s career and an overview of all his production. Ladis’s volume on Taddeo Gaddi (Ladis 1982) illuminates the career of Giotto’s major follower, whereas Poeschke 2005 on frescoes illustrates beautifully the most important cycles in that medium by various Florentine artists throughout the century. Meiss 1973 argues that Tuscan painting reverted to a hieratic, otherworldly style in the aftermath of the plague at mid-century.
Derbes, Anne, and Mark Sandona, eds. The Cambridge Companion to Giotto. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
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Anthology of essays related to Giotto’s entire career commissioned by various experts chosen to cover important broad topics like Giotto’s art for the Franciscans. Intended for undergraduate and graduate student audiences. Small black-and-white illustrations.
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Ladis, Andrew T. Taddeo Gaddi: Critical Reappraisal and Catalogue Raisonné. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1982.
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Introductory essays tracing the career of Taddeo Gaddi followed by a catalogue raisonné of his painting and appendix of documents. Hundreds of small black-and-white illustrations. This is the basic book on the artist.
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Ladis, Andrew T., ed. Giotto and the World of Early Italian Art: An Anthology of Literature. 4 vols. New York: Garland, 1998.
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Anthology of previously published articles and essays chosen by editor for their contribution to the understanding of Giotto’s whole career. Intended as handy reference volumes for professional audience and graduate students. Small black-and-white illustrations.
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Meiss, Millard. Painting in Florence and Siena after the Black Death. The Arts, Religion and Society in the Mid-Fourteenth Century. 3d ed. New York: Harper & Row, 1973.
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Analysis of Tuscan art between 1350 and 1375 that argues that successive outbreaks of plague and the ensuing societal devastation led artists to break away from Giotto’s lead and revert to a hieratic, otherworldly style.
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Poeschke, Joachim. Italian Frescoes, the Age of Giotto, 1280–1400. New York: Abbeville, 2005.
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Translation of Wandmalerei der Giottozeit in Italien, 2003. Lavishly illustrated volume covering the fresco cycles by Giotto, Maso di Banco, Taddeo Gaddi, Agnolo Gaddi, Andrea da Firenze, Spinello Aretino, and Giovanni Milano within the context of frescoes from other Italian locations. Text followed by an appendix of inscriptions and bibliography.
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Schwarz, Michael Viktor, and Pia Theis. Giottus Pictor. 2 vols. Vienna: Böhlau, 2004.
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The first volume, Giottos Leben, transcribes all documentation related to Giotto and his career. Volume 2, Giottos Werke, is a survey of all of Giotto’s career in panel painting and in fresco and includes the cycles at Assisi that have been connected to the master and his workshop. Includes up-to-date bibliography and hundreds of small black-and-white illustrations as well as twenty color plates.
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SCULPTURE
For a survey of Florentine sculpture in the context of production elsewhere in Italy in the 14th century, see Moskowitz 2001. Florentine 14th-century sculpture was dominated by three figures: Arnolfo di Cambio, Andrea Pisano, and Andrea Cione, known as Orcagna. Arnolfo and Orcagna both worked as marble-carvers and produced architecture or architectural ensembles like tabernacles, for which see Neri Lasanna 2005 and Kreytenberg 2000. Unlike them Andrea Pisano, famous for his bronze doors for the Baptistry, worked in metal as well as in stone; see Moskowitz 1986.
Kreytenberg, Gert. Orcagna, Andrea di Cione: Ein universeller Künstler der Gotik in Florenz. Mainz, Germany: P. von Zabern, 2000.
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Covers all of Orcagna’s production from his panel paintings and frescoes to his architectural/sculptural masterpiece, the Tabernacle at Orsanmichele. Traces as well the production of his workshop. Text is followed by a document appendix, original sources, and sonnets attributed to Orcagna. Well illustrated with forty-eight color plates and 432 black-and-white figures.
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Moskowitz, Anita Fiderer. The Sculpture of Andrea and Nino Pisano. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986.
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Monograph covering the careers of Andrea Pisano and his son Nino, their origins, stylistic development, and artistic context. Sees Andrea Pisano as influenced by Giotto but also by the French courtly style, which allowed him to create a distinctive style that combined naturalism and emotional nuance with delicate characterization. Three hundred and fifty black-and-white illustrations and one color plate.
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Moskowitz, Anita Fiderer. Italian Gothic Sculpture: c. 1250–c. 1400. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
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Survey about the variety of sculptural genres and media throughout the peninsula, from the late medieval period until the 15th century. Contends that Italian Gothic sculpture is not a provincial offshoot of northern Gothic art but instead shows a uniquely native visual language and syntax. Recent archaeological discoveries are used to consider issues of politics, patronage, and religious ritual. Almost four hundred black-and-white illustrations.
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Neri Lusanna, Enrica, ed. Arnolfo: Alle origini del rinascimento fiorentino. Florence: Polistampa, 2005.
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Lavishly produced and illustrated catalogue of the groundbreaking exhibition on Arnolfo di Cambio held in Florence in 2005. Provides essays and catalogue entries and hundreds of color illustrations of all the extant works by Arnolfo, as well as reconstruction plans for complexes like the Florence Cathedral façade that are now in a fragmentary state.
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Fifteenth Century
The books covering quattrocento Florence are all thematically based. Baxandall 1971 discusses the theoretical concerns of the intellectuals assessing the period’s painting, whereas Baxandall 1972handles the concept of how the style of painting in a given society reflects the visual skills and habits formed by that society’s daily life. Rubin 2007 explores the implications of how Florentine 15th-century visual arts are influenced by the social conditions of the period. Ciappelli and Rubin 2000situates art within the context of individual and family memory whereas Verdon and Henderson 1990investigates the effects of Christianity. Nuttall 2004 argues for the extent to which Florentine collectors amassed Netherlandish art and how these northern paintings changed art in the city.Randolph 2002 argues that 15th-century civic art in Florence was gendered feminine despite the longstanding tradition of linking the city to Hercules. Thomas 1995 deals with the functioning of painters’ workshops throughout the century. Summers 1977 tracks how the rhetorical termcontrapposto entered artistic theoretical writing and the introduction of contrapposto into early-15th-century painting and sculpture by Masaccio and Donatello.
Baxandall, Michael. Giotto and the Orators: Humanist Observers of Painting in Italy and the Discovery of Pictorial Composition, 1350–1450. Oxford: Clarendon, 1971.
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Analysis of the interpretations of painting evolved by the learned intellectuals at the court of Leonello d’Este in Ferrara, with Leonello himself participating, thus giving an idea of a patron’s concerns. Includes the original texts and sixteen black-and-white illustrations.
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Baxandall, Michael. Painting and Experience in Fifteenth-Century Italy. Oxford: Clarendon, 1972.
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Explains how the style of painting reflects the visual skills and habits that evolve out of daily life in a given period. Defines and illustrates sixteen concepts used by a contemporary critic of painting, thereby assembling the basic vocabulary used then to explore 15th-century art. With an appendix that lists the original Latin and Italian texts referred to throughout the book.
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Ciappelli, Giovanni, and Patricia Lee Rubin, eds. Art, Memory, and Family in Renaissance Florence. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
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Anthology of sixteen essays by experts in the field that investigates the relationship between the patronage, production, and acquisition of artistic objects and architectural complexes in 15th-century Florence and the development of family memory and history. Covers literary as well as artistic productions. Eighty-one black-and-white illustrations
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Nuttall, Paula. From Flanders to Florence: The Impact of Netherlandish Painting, 1400–1500. New Haven, CT: Yale University, 2004.
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Studies the influence of Netherlandish painting on Florentine art in the 15th century, especially the later 15th century, through an analysis of collection inventories, paintings still remaining in Italian collections, the period literary sources, and the reflections of Netherlandish stylistic and compositional features in Italian paintings. Document appendix and 285 llustrations, mainly in color.
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Randolph, Adrian W. B. Engaging Symbols: Gender, Politics, and Public Art in Fifteenth-Century Florence. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2002.
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Provides a gendered analysis of a group of key commissions in 15th-century Florence: Donatello’s lost Dovizia, the emblem of the Medici diamond ring, Botticelli’s Pallas Medicea, and Donatello’s Judith, in order to argue that they articulate a visual politics encouraging the emergence of the city into a state. Well illustrated, principally in black-and-white plates.
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Rubin, Patricia Lee. Images and Identity in Fifteenth-Century Florence. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007.
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Seven essays that aim at explaining the 15th-century Florentine’s “period eye,” or what the visual arts meant in the time, through an analysis of period literary, social and political history, and culture.
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Summers, David. “Contrapposto: Style and Meaning in Renaissance Art.” Art Bulletin 59 (September 1977): 336–361.
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Analyzes how humanists’ understanding of the rhetorical term contrapposto came to influence the visual arts as a vocabulary of contrasts, not just in postures but also in light and dark, and a means of enlivening the human figure and compositions in the Renaissance. Relates it to Alberti’s and to Leonardo’s theories about art. Fourteen black-and-white illustrations, mainly of Florentine art.
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Thomas, Anabel. The Painter’s Practice in Renaissance Tuscany. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
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Analyzes the work-a-day world of Renaissance painters’ workshops, focusing on 15th-century Florentine examples. Handles the business of attracting customers and transacting a commission in terms of contracts, payments, deliveries, etc. Drawn from extensive analysis of workshop records and 15th-century documents. Concludes that Renaissance patrons regarded themselves as connoisseurs and actively sought the “right” painter for their needs. Ninety black-and-white figures.
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Verdon, Timothy, and John Henderson, eds. Christianity and the Renaissance: Image and Religious Imagination in the Quattrocento. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1990.
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Anthology of twenty-three essays by leading experts in their fields on the effects of religion on 14th through 16th-century art and its historical, cultural, and political contexts, almost all centered on Florence. Limited number of black-and white photographs accompanies each essay.
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SPECIFIC DECADES
Rubin and Wright 1999 and Steinberg 1977 focus on particular decades in the city’s development, respectively showing how domestic concerns or religious zealotry can affect artistic commissions.
Rubin, Patricia, and Alison Wright. Renaissance Florence: The Art of the 1470s. London: National Gallery, 1999.
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Examines the decade of the 1470s, a period long of interest to British collectors who enriched the National Gallery with its legacies. Focusing on Verrocchio, Pollaiuolo, Botticelli, and their workshops, the exhibition aims to illuminate the era in which Leonardo came of age and the High Renaissance was launched. Richly illustrated with many color plates.
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Steinberg, Ronald. Fra Girolamo Savonarola: Florentine Art and Renaissance Historiography. Athens: Ohio University Press, 1977.
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Traces the influence of the Dominican reactionary preacher Girolamo Savonarola, whose word was authoritative in Florence in the 1490s and influential for decades after his execution in 1498. Traces how major artists like Botticelli and Fra Bartolommeo were under his sway and shaped their paintings to his theories about religion. Five black-and-white illustrations.
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ARCHITECTURE
In addition to the surveys that include Florentine 15th-century architecture like Heydenreich and Lotz 1996 (originally published in 1974 and revised by Paul Davies and Deborah Howard in 1996) andMurray 1986 (both cited under Reference Works), most books on the period focus on either villa (e.g., Lillie 2005) or townhouse design (Burroughs 2002 and Lindow 2007). Goldthwaite 1980provides an economic history that tracks urban design and building projects in 15th-century Florence. Millon 1994 collects the architectural models that were preliminary to construction on a large scale and includes important Florentine commissions like the Cathedral. Smith 1992investigates the intellectual culture in which architecture emerged in the city in this period. Bruschi 2006 covers Florence’s most important architect in an authoritative survey of his career.
Bruschi, Arnaldo. Filippo Brunelleschi. Milan: Electa, 2006.
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Traces the career of Brunelleschi as architect and engineer, but also in terms of his experiments with linear perspective and his influence on contemporary painters and sculptors like Masaccio and Donatello. More than 250 black-and-white illustrations with some in color.
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Burroughs, Charles. The Italian Renaissance Palace Façade: Structures of Authority, Surfaces of Sense. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511666568Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Analyzes the development of palace façades through the semiotic meanings of their designs. Weights discussion of trecento and quattrocento facades toward Florence and sees Brunelleschi as the key figure even though none of his designs were executed. Also examines Alberti’s intervention at the Palazzo Rucellai. Sixty-eight black-and-white illustrations.
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Goldthwaite, Richard A. The Building of Renaissance Florence. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1980.
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Provides an economic and social history of building in 14th-, 15th-, and 16th-century Florence but focuses on the 15th century. Treats both the demand side, or patrons’ circumstances, and the supply side of the building trade. Appendixes chart the changing value of the florin, the statutes of the building guilds, the range of wages, and the cost of a representative foodstuff, meat. Some black-and-white illustrations.
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Lillie, Amanda. Florentine Villas in the Fifteenth Century: An Architectural and Social History. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
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Discusses the more than thirty villas of the Sassetti and Strozzi families in terms of how they were built and used by the commissioners. Much previously unpublished archival evidence and appendices list various villas covered and offer genealogies of both families so that the passage of properties between generations can be traced. More than two hundred black-and-white illustrations.
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Lindow, James R. The Renaissance Palace in Florence: Magnificence and Splendour in Fifteenth-Century Italy. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 2007.
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Analyzes how palace design in 15th-century Florence revealed the patrons’ goals of projecting their enlightened and generous beneficence for the betterment of the commonweal. These aspirations are traced both in the façade that fronts on the city and in the interior disposition and decoration of rooms. Followed by documentary appendix of inventories. Forty-two black-and-white illustrations.
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Millon, Henry A., ed. The Renaissance from Brunelleschi to Michelangelo: The Representation of Architecture. London: Thames & Hudson, 1994.
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Catalog of an exhibition held at the Palazzo Grassi, Venice. Series of essays address various aspects of architecture in terms of built construction, architectural drawings and models, and architecture as depicted in Renaissance painting. Covers Florentine architecture of the 15th and 16th century within the context of architecture from other Italian cities. Essays followed by scholarly catalogue entries on models included in the exhibition. Numerous illustrations, many in color. Lengthy bibliography on architecture and urban design.
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Smith, Christine. Architecture in the Culture of Early Humanism: Ethics, Aesthetics and Eloquence, 1400–1470. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.
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Discusses 15th-century architecture in the context of the intellectual, spiritual, and aesthetic concerns of humanists prominent in the city, such as Manuel Chrysoloras and Alberti. Analyzes key writings by the two in these terms. Twenty-five black-and-white illustrations and plans.
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PAINTING, 1400–1450
In Alberti 1972, Cecil Grayson translates and annotates Alberti’s treatises on painting and relief sculpture and other two-dimensional media. Both drew heavily on what he learned from Florentine artists. The following are monographs on major early-15th-century painters: Fra Angelico (Ahl 2008), Lorenzo Monaco (Eisenberg 1989); Fra Filippo Lippi (Holmes 1999); Andrea del Castagno (Horster 1980); and Masaccio and Masolino (Joannides 1993).
Ahl, Diane Cole. Fra Angelico. New York: Phaidon, 2008.
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A lavishly illustrated monograph that covers the friar’s entire career and situates him within the Florence of his day. Intended for specialists and the general public as well, it includes biographies of Angelico’s contemporaries, a glossary, and a map of the sites of his commissions. Some 166 illustrations, most in color.
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Alberti, Leon Battista. On Painting and On Sculpture: The Latin Texts of De Pictura and De Statua. London: Phaidon, 1972.
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Edited, translated, and annotated by Cecil Grayson. Alberti’s treatise on painting, written first in Latin in 1435, then translated into Italian the following year, codified the rules of linear perspective and introduced the ideal standards of the representation of narrative in painting and in other two-dimensional media like relief sculpture. Extremely influential on patrons and artists alike in the 15th and 16th centuries and later. The treatise on sculpture was short, technical, and less significant.
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Eisenberg, Marvin. Lorenzo Monaco. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1989.
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Catalogue raisonné of Lorenzo Monaco’s panel paintings and manuscript illuminations evaluated in terms of his workshop’s production. Includes attributed paintings as well as those that are today untraceable. Large appendix of documents. Sixteen color plates and more than 330 black-and-white figures.
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Holmes, Megan. Fra Filippo Lippi: The Carmelite Painter. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1999.
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Monograph on Fra Filippo Lippi that emphasizes the impact of his religious affiliation as a Carmelite particularly in the network of patronage he enjoyed throughout his career. Extensively grounded in documentary research. Two hundred and thirty-four illustrations, most in color.
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Horster, Marita. Andrea del Castagno. Oxford: Phaidon, 1980.
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Monograph with catalogue raisonné that includes Castagno’s drawings and lost paintings, as well as the works mistakenly attributed to him. With an appendix of documents and early sources. Seven color plates and 158 black-and-white illustrations.
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Joannides, Paul. Masaccio and Masolino: A Complete Catalogue. London: Phaidon, 1993.
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Provides a catalogue raisonné of both Masaccio and his collaborator and older contemporary Masolino. Includes the extant documentation and contrasts the formative background of each painter. Traces their careers in Florence and Rome, and Masolino’s later work in Lombardy. Almost five hundred illustrations, most in color, with many details of the paintings.
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PAINTING, 1450–1500
Muccini 1992 covers the only extant complex of decoration from the 15th century surviving in the Palazzo della Signoria. Neri di Bicci 1976 publishes the account books of a painter from a productive 15th-century dynasty. Brown, et al. 2001 studies portraiture of aristocratic women, most examples of which date from after 1450. The other sources (Brown 1998, Cadogan 2000, Kemp 2006, Kőrner 2006, Zambrano and Nelson 2004) are monographs on major figures.
Brown, David Alan. Leonardo da Vinci: Origins of a Genius. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1998.
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Studies the emergence of Leonardo da Vinci as a painter, particularly in terms of the influence his teacher Verrocchio had on his development. Particular attention is paid to how Verrocchio’s large shop producing both painting and sculpture shaped the younger artist. Also studied is the influence of the Pollaiuolo on the young Leonardo. One hundred and sixty-six illustrations, many in color.
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Brown, David Alan. Virtue and Beauty: Leonardo’s Ginevra de’ Benci and Renaissance Portraits of Women. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2001.
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Catalog of an exhibition held 30 September 2001–6 January 2002 at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. Several essays by learned specialists on Florentine history, social practices, and the history of portraiture precede an extensive catalogue of portraits of women, most from 15th-century Florence. Hundreds of illustrations, most in color.
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Cadogan, Jean K. Domenico Ghirlandaio: Artist and Artisan. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2000.
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Monograph and catalogue raisonné of the paintings and drawings of Domenico and his brother Davide Ghirlandaio with an appendix of documents and more than 300 illustrations, many in color. Author has interpreted the Ghirlandaio from the point of view of the artisan context and the artists’ workshop.
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Kemp, Martin. Leonardo da Vinci: The Marvellous Works of Nature and Man. Rev. ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006
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Scholarly introduction that provides an integrated account of Leonardo’s artistic, scientific, and technological achievements. Kemp shows how Leonardo’s early training in Florence provided a crucial foundation in the “science of art,” particularly perspective and anatomy, while his time in Milan enlarged his outlook to embrace a wide range of natural sciences and mathematics. Sixteen color plates and eighty-four in black-and-white. Originally published in 1981.
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Kőrner, Hans. Botticelli. Cologne: DuMont, 2006.
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Chronological overview of Botticelli’s career in painting and in the graphic arts, subdivided by the category of commission. Three hundred and eighteen color plates and 322 black-and-white illustrations.
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Muccini, Ugo. The Apartments of the Priori in Palazzo Vecchio. Florence: Le Lettere, 1992.
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Discusses the ensemble of decoration in the palace’s only well-preserved 15th-century room: doors with tarsia portraits of city heroes, an elaborate gilded and painted wooden ceiling, marble sculpted figures of St. John the Baptist and an allegory of Justice, frescoes of the city’s patron saint Zenobius, and representations of Roman heroes important for the city’s Republican ideology. Amply illustrated in color with some black-and-white figures.
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Neri di Bicci. Le Ricordanze (10 marzo 1453–24 aprile 1475). Edited by Bruno Santi. Pisa, Italy: Edizione Marlin, 1976.
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Publication of the account books of Neri di Bicci, a member of one of the most prolific dynasties of painters in 15th-century Florence. This rare survival offers much insight into the working of quattrocento painting shops.
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Zambrano, Patrizia, and Jonathan K. Nelson, and. Filippino Lippi. Milan: Electa, 2004.
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Monograph with catalogue raisonné of the painting of Lippi divided into early and late works, with Zambrano authoring the first part and Nelson the second part. With a document appendix and more than five hundred illustrations, many of them in color.
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SCULPTURE, 1400–1450
Pope-Hennessy 1996, volume 2 (cited under Reference Works), is still the authoritative survey of 15th-century sculpture. Cooper and Leino 2007 is a collection of essays concerning quattrocento relief sculpture, particularly the Madonna and Child busts that became so popular in Florence at the time. Poeschke 1993 is a magnificently illustrated overview focusing on Donatello but including all the major Florentine 15th-century sculptors. Also listed in this section are monographs on major artists such as Nanni di Banco (Bergstein 2000), Ghiberti (Krautheimer and Krautheimer-Hess 1982and Radke 2007), and Donatello (Janson 1979). Schlosser 1912 publishes Ghiberti’s Commentarii, a history of art from Greek times until Ghiberti’s day and a theoretical assessment of issues central to Ghiberti’s view of art.
Bergstein, Mary. The Sculpture of Nanni di Banco. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000.
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Monographic overview of Nanni’s life and oeuvre followed by a catalogue of accepted and rejected attributions and a register of documents. More than 130 black-and-white illustrations.
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Cooper, Donal, and Marika Leino, eds. Depth of Field: Relief Sculpture in Renaissance Italy. Bern, Switzerland: Peter Lang, 2007.
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Essays by experts in the field spurred by an exhibition of 15th-century sculpture from the collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum focusing on the uses and types of relief sculpture in quattrocento Florence, particularly the popular category of Madonna and Child sculptures and Donatello’s masterpiece in narrative relief, Christ’s Ascension and Handing Down the Keys to Peter. A limited number of black-and-white illustrations accompany each essay.
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Janson, H. W. The Sculpture of Donatello. 2d ed. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1979.
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Catalogue raisonné of the sculptures by Donatello, followed by a catalogue of rejected attributions. No introductory essays surveying Donatello’s career or treating problems of scholarly concern. However, in the context of each catalogue entry these issues are broached, but always in specific connection to the sculpture under discussion. More than 130 black-and-white illustrations.
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Krautheimer, Richard, and Trude Krautheimer-Hess. Lorenzo Ghiberti. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1982.
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Pre-eminent study of Lorenzo Ghiberti and all his artistic commissions. Includes chapters on Ghiberti’s relations with humanists, Ghiberti’s own collections of art, Ghiberti as an architect, and linear perspective, but focuses on his sculptures. Extensive documentary appendixes. Almost three hundred black-and-white illustrations. Originally published in 1956.
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Poeschke, Joachim. Donatello and His World: Sculpture of the Italian Renaissance. New York: Abrams, 1993.
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More than three hundred full-page illustrations, most of Florentine sculpture, are followed by a concise catalogue of the artists and their major commissions with abbreviated bibliographies. Some color illustrations as well.
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Radke, Gary M., ed. Gates of Paradise. Lorenzo Ghiberti’s Renaissance Masterpiece. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007.
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Anthology of eleven essays by leading authorities on Ghiberti’s second set of doors for the Baptistry of Florence compiled on the occasion of the exhibition of three of the doors’ panels at the High Museum, Atlanta, and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, after these panels’ conservation. Essays focus on Ghiberti as a collaborator, Ghiberti’s innovations, and his methods of casting and chasing. Dozens of color illustrations with many details.
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Schlosser, Julius von, ed. Lorenzo Ghibertis Denkwürdigkeiten (I commentarii). 2 vols. Berlin: J. Bard, 1912.
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Ghiberti’s account of the history of ancient art, the art of the 14th and 15th centuries (culminating in an evaluation of his own career, the first ever written by an early modern artist), and technical issues concerning optics, anatomy, and proportion. Important in this context for Ghiberti’s observations about 14th- and early-15th-century art.
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SCULPTURE, 1450–1500
For a survey of artists working at this time, see Pope-Hennessy 1996, volume 2 (cited underReference Works), and also Poeschke 1993 (cited under Sculpture, 1400–1450). For essays about particular themes in later-15th-century sculpture, see McHam 1998 (cited under Sculpture, 1500–1550). Monographs catalog the careers of sculptors of the second half of the 15th century: Verrocchio (Butterfield 1997), Benedetto da Maiano (Carl 2006), and Bertoldo (Draper 1992).
Butterfield, Andrew. The Sculptures of Andrea del Verrocchio. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997.
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Monographic survey of the sculptures by Verrocchio followed by a catalogue of those attributed to him. There is also an appendix on Verrocchio as a draftsman, painter, and teacher. Nearly 275 illustrations, many in color.
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Carl, Doris. Benedetto da Maiano: A Florentine Sculptor at the Threshold of the High Renaissance. 2 vols. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2006.
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Exhaustive two-volume survey of the career of Benedetto in Florence and in Naples, thoroughly based in documentary research, much newly published here. Consideration also given to his collaboration with his brother Giuliano. Second volume devoted to more than 280 black-and-white illustrations and 22 color plates of all of Benedetto’s sculptures, as well as comparative material.
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Draper, James David. Bertoldo di Giovanni, Sculptor of the Medici Household: Critical Reappraisal and Catalogue Raisonné. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1992.
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Analyzes Bertoldo’s style and development and his artistic contributions to the art of the late 15th century, particularly to Michelangelo, to whom he was a mentor. Remainder of text is a catalogue raisonné dealing with types of sculpture in which Bertoldo specialized, e.g., medals, bronze narratives, statuettes, and sculptures in a medium other than bronze. Followed by an appendix of transcribed documents. More than 140 black-and-white illustrations.
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PAINTER-SCULPTORS
Some Florentine artists worked in both media. The most prominent were the Pollaiuolo brothers (seeWright 2004) and Leonardo da Vinci, who had been trained as a painter and sculptor in Verrocchio’s shop. Radke, et al. 2009 traces the interaction of Leonardo with Verrocchio, Rustici, and other sculptors, as well as Leonardo’s sculptural projects.
Radke, Gary M. Leonardo da Vinci and the Art of Sculpture. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2009.
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Published on the occasion of an exhibition held at the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia, 6 October 2009–21 February 2010 and at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, California, 23 March 2010–20 June 2010. Series of essays by experts in the field introduces exhibition on Leonardo’s drawings for sculpture and sculptures that can be associated with him, including two soldiers from the Silver Altar of the Baptistry, here newly attributed to Leonardo while working in Verrocchio’s workshop. Essays trace Leonardo’s study of sculptures, particularly Verrocchio’s, his equestrian projects, especially the Sforza Horse, and his collaboration with Rustici. More than one hundred illustrations, almost all in color.
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Wright, Alison. The Pollaiuolo Brothers: The Arts of Florence and Rome. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2004.
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Monograph covering the careers of the brothers Antonio and Piero Pollaiuolo who were active in Florence and in Rome and who designed and executed sculpture in gold, silver, bronze, and cork, paintings, embroidery, and engravings. Chronologically structured but subdivided according to types of commission. Extensively documented and illustrated with 350 plates, many in color.
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SPECIALIZED MATERIALS
A major specialized material in Florence is glazed terracotta, the formula for which was innovated by Luca della Robbia. Pope-Hennessy 1980 focuses on Luca as a marble and terracotta sculptor;Gentilini 1992 handles the whole Della Robbia dynasty. Haines 1983 focuses on a less prevalent material, tarsiated wood sculpture, and its use in the Sacrestia delle Messe in the Duomo.
Gentilini, Giancarlo. I Della Robbia: La scultura invetriata nel Rinascimento. 2 vols. Florence: Cantini, 1992.
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Two-volume catalogue of the glazed terracotta sculptural production of the Della Robbia dynasty that included Luca, Andrea, Giovanni, Girolamo, Marco, Francesco, Luca II, and the Buglioni family. Also included are other sculptors such as Donatello, Andrea Sansovino, Rustici, Bertoldo, and Benedetto da Maiano, who the author contends worked occasionally in glazed terracotta. Profusely illustrated in color.
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Haines, Margaret. The “Sacrestia delle Messe” of the Florentine Cathedral. Florence: Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze, 1983.
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An analysis of the many types of media decorating the Cathedral’s north Sacristy, especially the elaborate religious scenes and perspectival illusions in intarsia on their side benches. With a document appendix, nearly fifty color plates, and many black-and-white illustrations.
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Pope-Hennessy, John. Luca della Robbia. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1980.
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Monographic analysis of Luca’s life and career covering his production in marble, enameled terracotta, and bronze in a chronological arrangement. Followed by documentary appendix and a catalogue of attributed and dubious works. Thirty-two color plates and almost two thousand black-and-white illustrations.
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Sixteenth Century
There is no survey of 16th-century art in Florence. Books like Smyth 1963 and Shearman 1967 track the development and spread of the style called Mannerism in central Italy and cover Florence. The article Summers 1972 analyzes the aesthetic pose termed “serpentinata” that was a key feature of Mannerist art.
Shearman, John. Mannerism. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin, 1967.
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Discusses mannerism as an artistic and literary movement that flourished at the courts of Europe in the mid- to late 16th century. Important in this context for its inclusion of the Medici grand duchy and its patronage in art and architecture. Intended for a general reader but useful for specialists and students. More than one hundred illustrations in black-and-white.
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Smyth, Craig Hugh. Mannerism and Maniera. Locust Valley, NY: Augustin, 1963.
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Interprets mannerism in terms of a stylistic penchant for constructing figures and forms in planes parallel to the picture surface flattened by light, and argues that it was derived from the study of Roman sarcophagus reliefs. Sees the style as emerging in the 1520s in Florence and becoming increasing elegant and stylized throughout the century. Thirty-three black-and-white illustrations.
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Summers, David. “Maniera and Movement: The Figura Serpentinata.” Art Quarterly 35 (1972): 269–301.
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Discusses a fundamental stylistic elegance of 16th-century painting and sculpture: a figure shaped like a flame whose body twists gracefully around its own axis creating a sinuous flow that is continuous in its upward movement. The aesthetic pose seems to develop from Michelangelo’sVictory for the Julius Tomb (1520s) and was very influential in the 16th century. Limited black-and-white illustrations.
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ARCHITECTURE
There is no specific study on Florentine 16th-century architecture. Lingohr 1997 focuses on Florentine domestic architecture in the period. Ackerman 1986 and Brothers 2008 handle Michelangelo’s projects in the city. Wallace 1994 focuses on Michelangelo’s work as an architect and sculptor at San Lorenzo. Rubin 1995 on Vasari (cited under Painting, 1550–1600) is key to understanding Vasari’s designs for many architectural projects in the city. Fara 1995 discusses the architecture of Buontalenti, the Grand-Duke Francesco I’s favorite architect, whereas Calafati 2011covers the new style in late-16th-century architecture ushered in by Ammannati.
Ackerman, James S. The Architecture of Michelangelo. 2d ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986.
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Fundamental analysis of Michelangelo’s architecture allotting a chapter to his theory of architecture and a chapter to each of his architectural projects in Florence and in Rome. Intended for graduate students and for specialists in the field. One hundred and forty black-and-white illustrations.
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Brothers, Cammy. Michelangelo, Drawing, and the Invention of Architecture. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2008.
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Analyzes Michelangelo’s architectural drawings, which Brothers contends are the earliest surviving corpus of the type. She argues that he changed drawing into a crucial design tool and thereby transformed architecture. Covers Michelangelo’s whole career but focuses on Florence. Two hundred and seventy-five illustrations, many in color.
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Calafati, Marco. Bartolomeo Ammannati: I Palazzi Grifoni e Giugni: La nuova architettura dei palazzi fiorentini del secondo cinquecento. Florence: Olschki, 2011.
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Monograph on two of Ammannati’s grand private residences in late-16th-century Florence that traces all parts of the buildings’ construction and decoration and then their later modifications across the centuries. Significant document appendix. Eleven color plates and 158 black-and-white figures.
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Fara, Amelio. Bernardo Buontalenti. Milan: Electa, 1995.
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Catalogue of Buontalenti’s architecture, military engineering, and theater designs traced through extant remains of the projects and through the artist’s preliminary drawings. More than 525 black-and-white illustrations.
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Lingohr, Michael. Der florentiner Palastbau der Hochrenaissance: Der Palazzo Bartolini Salimbeni in seinem historischen und architekturgeschichtlichen Kontext. Worms, Germany: Wernersche Verlagsgesellschaft, 1997.
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Analysis of the façade and ground-plan design of the Florentine High Renaissance palace between 1490 and 1530 that focuses on the Palazzo Bartolini Salimbeni by Baccio d’Agnolo. Discusses the evolution of its design and the intended use of each of the interior spaces. With detailed scholarly apparatus of documents and period sources. More than 150 black-and-white illustrations.
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Wallace, William E. Michelangelo at San Lorenzo: The Genius as Entrepreneur. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
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Analysis of Michelangelo’s working procedures surrounding the complex of architecture and sculpture he masterminded at San Lorenzo: the unexecuted church façade, the New Sacristy and the Library. Demonstrates how Michelangelo designed everything but supervised the execution by others of much of the architecture. Counters the myths propagated by biographers that Michelangelo was a solitary genius. Based on extensive new documentary finds. One hundred and thirty-five black-and-white illustrations.
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PAINTING, 1500–1550
Franklin 2001 provides a general coverage of the first half of the century. Much of the literature concerns Michelangelo and the long shadow his drawings, paintings, and sculptures cast over 16th-century art in Florence. Such an approach is seen in Ames-Lewis and Joannides 2003 and the edited catalogue Giovinezza di Michelangelo Brandt, et al. 1999.
Ames-Lewis, Francis, and Paul Joannides, eds. Reaction to the Master: Michelangelo’s Effect on Art and Artists in the Sixteenth Century. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2003.
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A series of essays by various experts argues the ways in which Michelangelo influenced artists as diverse as Raphael, Pontormo, Bronzino, Allori, Parmigianino, Salviati, Battista Franco, Naldini, Venusti, Vittoria, and Vasari—in other words, key artists in 16th-century Florence, Rome, and Venice. The volume concludes with a chapter on his impact in Spain. Illustrations in black-and-white of the most important objects considered.
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Brandt, Kathleen Weil-Garris, ed Giovinezza di Michelangelo. Milan: Artificio Skira, 1999.
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Exhibition catalogue, Florence, Palazzo Vecchio, Sala d’Arme, and Casa Buonarroti, 6 October 1999–9 January 2000. Introductory essays by leading scholars who discuss Michelangelo’s beginnings (1490s) within the context of Florentine art of the late quattrocento are followed by catalogue entries and rich photographic corpus of objects in the exhibition. They include prints, sculptures, and paintings. Emphasis is placed on the Boy Archer in New York recently attributed to Michelangelo.
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Franklin, David. Painting in Renaissance Florence, 1500–1550. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2001.
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Discusses the painters Perugino, Leonardo da Vinci, Piero di Cosimo, Michelangelo, Fra Bartolomeo, Ridolfo Ghirlandaio, Andrea del Sarto, Franciabigio, Rosso, Pontormo, Salviati, and Vasari in separate chapters in an effort to give equal weight to the High Renaissance and to Mannerism in Florence. In the case where an artist was peripatetic, like Michelangelo, Rosso, and Salviati, analysis is limited to his career in Florence. Nearly two hundred illustrations, many in color.
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PAINTING, 1550–1600
Pilliod 2001 and Luchinat, et al. 2002 offer specialized surveys of the latter part of the cinquecento, which provide good overviews. Salviati (Monbeig-Goguel 1998), Vasari (Rubin 1995), and Bronzino (Falciani and Natali 2010) are covered by monographs or exhibition catalogues. The remainder of the literature on 16th-century painting focuses on the decoration of specific rooms in the Palazzo Vecchio, like Francesco I’s Studiolo or Stanzino (Conticelli 2007), Eleonora da Toledo’s Chapel (Cox-Rearick 1993), the Salone dei Cinquecento (Muccini 1990), and the Apartment of Cosimo I (Muccini and Cecchi 1991).
Conticelli, Valentina. “Guardaroba di Cose Rare et Preziose.” Lo studiolo di Francesco I de’ Medici: Arte, storia e significati. Lugano, Switzerland: Agorà, 2007.
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Examines the cosmic iconography of the Studiolo of Francesco I and its meanings for Francesco, a well-known collector of natural specimens, scientific experimenter, and alchemist. Explains the fresco vault’s cosmic scheme and how the panel paintings visually recreate the legendary or historical origins of the material stored in the cabinets behind them. Thirty-nine color plates, reconstructive diagrams, 115 black-and-white illustrations.
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Cox-Rearick, Janet. Bronzino’s Chapel of Eleonora in the Palazzo Vecchio. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993.
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Monographic study of the chapel in the Palazzo Vecchio, which Cosimo I together with his wife, Eleonora, commissioned for her personal worship. Analysis of the iconography from a Franciscan and a Medici family vantage. Followed by an appendix of documents. Nearly two hundred illustrations, many of them in color.
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Falciani, Carlo, and Antonio Natali, eds. Bronzino: Artist and Poet at the Court of the Medici. Florence: Mandragora, 2010.
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Catalog of an exhibition held at the Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, 24 September 2009–23 January 2010, Catalog devoted to Bronzino’s portable paintings. Individual entries on objects are interspersed with relevant short essays by a team of international scholars. Sculptures tied to Bronzino’s career are also included as are examples of his poetry. Each entry illustrated in full-page size color plate; many black-and-white illustrations as well.
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Luchinat, Christina Acidini, ed The Medici, Michelangelo, and the Art of Late Renaissance Florence. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2002.
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Published in conjunction with the exhibition “Magnificenza! The Medici, Michelangelo, and the Art of Late Renaissance Florence,” held at Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, 6 June 2002–29 September 2002, Art Institute of Chicago, 9 November 2002–2 February 2003, and Detroit Institute of Arts, 16 March 2003–8 June 2003. Catalogue of the exhibition, which begins with a series of learned essays about Grand-Ducal Medici patronage of paintings, sculptures, tapestries, and pietre dure. A specialized entry for each of the objects in the show follows. Profusely illustrated mainly with color plates.
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Monbeig-Goguel, Catherine, ed. Francesco Salviati (1510–1563), o, la bella maniera: Roma, Villa Medici, 29 gennaio–29 marzo, 1998, Parigi, Musée du Louvre, 30 aprile–29 giugno 1998. Milan: Electa, 1998.
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Catalogue of the exhibition that collected together almost all of Salviati’s portable paintings and drawings, and the tapestries designed by him. Catalogue entries written by a team of internationally known scholars. With hundreds of color and black-and-white plates and an up-to-date scholarly bibliography.
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Muccini, Ugo. Il Salone dei Cinquecento in Palazzo Vecchio. Florence: Le Lettere, 1990.
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Examines the Medicean renovation of the Hall of the Great Council into a showcase of greater than-life-size portraits of important members of Cosimo’s lineage. Discusses how the room’s walls and compartmentalized ceiling were painted with legendary, allegorical, and historical imagery glorifying the Medici dynasty. Profusely illustrated mainly with color plates.
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Muccini, Ugo, and Alessandro Cecchi. The Apartment of Cosimo in Palazzo Vecchio. Florence: Le Lettere, 1991.
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Discusses the architecture and painting cycles commissioned by Cosimo I for the Apartments of the Elements and the Apartment of Leo X, each of which housed suites of iconographically related cycles of the gods, heroes, and elements, and of rooms dedicated to Cosimo or his prominent 15th- and 16th-century forbears. Profusely illustrated mainly with color plates.
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Pilliod, Elizabeth. Pontormo, Bronzino, and Allori: A Genealogy of Florentine Art. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2001.
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Examines the trio of Pontormo, who trained Bronzino, and Bronzino, the master of Allori. This genealogy of master-pupil relations dominated Florentine art from 1520 to 1600. Pilliod returns to them the stature they held in the 16th century by arguing from newly discovered documents and literary sources that Vasari deliberately elided from their biographies prestigious commissions from Cosimo I. With a document appendix and several hundred illustrations, most in color.
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Rubin, Patricia Lee. Giorgio Vasari. Art and History. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1995.
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Analysis of Vasari’s career as a major literary figure focusing on the two editions of his collected biographies that shaped all later understanding of Renaissance art. With six color plates and 163 black-and-white illustrations.
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SCULPTURE, 1500–1550
Pope-Hennessy 1996, volume 3 (cited under Reference Works), offers a detailed survey of Italian sculpture of the first half of the 16th century, with emphasis on Michelangelo. Poeschke 1996 andPratesi 2003 accomplish the same goals with texts that focus on illustrations. Bush 1976 provides an overview of the development of colossal sculpture. The essays collected by McHam 1998 illuminate many aspects of Renaissance sculpture particularly relevant to the first half of the 16th century. Bandinelli, the other major sculptor of the early century beside Michelangelo, is studied in a monograph (Greve 2008) and an essay Bush 1980).
Bush, Virginia. The Colossal Sculpture of the Cinquecento, from Michelangelo to Giovanni Bologna. New York: Garland, 1976.
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Collects and analyzes the revival of colossal sculpture in the late 15th and 16th centuries. Traces the surviving ancient examples known in the period and catalogues examples of Renaissance colossi by subject matter. Fundamental study of this phenomenon re-invented by Leonardo but launched in Michelangelo’s marble David. More than three hundred black-and-white figures.
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Bush, Virginia. “Bandinelli’s Hercules and Cacus and Florentine Tradition.” In Studies in Italian Art and Architecture, 15th Through 18th Centuries. Edited by Henry Millon, 163–206. Rome: Elefante, 1980.
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Traces the various influences of other Florentine sculptors from Donatello to Michelangelo on Bandinelli’s major colossal sculpture, Hercules and Cacus. Also investigates the Florentine iconography of linking the city’s identification to Hercules. Thirty-two black-and-white figures.
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Greve, David. Status and Statue: Studien zu Leben und Werke des Florentiner Bildhauers Baccio Bandinelli. Berlin: Frank & Timme, 2008.
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Monograph situating Bandinelli within the context of the artists who influenced him and whom he influenced. Handles Bandinelli’s sculptures, drawings, and paintings and prints done after his design. With a shorthand catalogue of his oeuvre and 107 small black-and-white illustrations and one color plate.
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McHam, Sarah Blake, ed. Looking at Italian Renaissance Sculpture. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
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Anthology of eleven essays by experts in the field primarily concerning Florentine 15th- and 16th-century sculpture. Covers a range of methods in regard to sculpture, such as cultural anthropology, gender studies, political theory, literary analysis, and conservation. Issues explored include style, revival of antiquity, role of patronage, and the analysis of categories imitated from antiquity such as statuettes and portrait bust sculpture. One hundred and thirteen black-and-white figures.
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Poeschke, Joachim. Michelangelo and His World: Sculpture of the Italian Renaissance. Translated by Russell Stockman. New York: Abrams, 1996.
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Introductory essay on the historical and cultural context of 16th-century sculpture and overview of the types of sculpture is the prelude to a series of short biographical essays about the major artists’ careers and masterpieces. Provides bibliography on each sculpture considered. Emphasis is on Michelangelo and on Florentine sculpture. Nearly four hundred black-and-white plates and figures with some color illustrations as well.
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Pratesi, Giovanni, ed. Repertorio della scultura fiorentina del cinquecento. 3 vols. Turin: Umberto Allemandi, 2003.
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A compendium of photographs of 16th-century sculptures arranged alphabetically by the artist’s name. Volume 1 is devoted to biographical sketches and bibliographies; volumes 2 and 3 to the photographs.
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Michelangelo
Most of the literature on 16th-century sculpture inevitably concerns Michelangelo because his influence was so great. Condivi 1976 is a translation of a 16th-century ghost-written biography, whereas Hibbard 1985 and Hughes 1997 are short monographs, and Tolnay 1943–1960 is a lengthy, comprehensive examination of Michelangelo’s commissions in sculpture and painting. Wallace edited numerous volumes of essays and articles on Michelangelo (Wallace 1995). The analysis of Michelangelo’s relation to the reform movements of the 16th century in Nagel 2000 puts the artist into the period’s religious context.
Condivi, Ascanio. The Life of Michelangelo. Translated by Alice Sedgwick Wohl. Edited by Hellmut Wohl. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1976.
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A quasi-autobiography in that it was written by Condivi with the full collaboration of Michelangelo. Important source for the artist’s own ideas about his oeuvre, which was so influential in Florentine 16th-century art and architecture. Fifty-three figures, plans, and diagrams.
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Hibbard, Howard. Michelangelo. 2d ed. New York: Harper & Row, 1985.
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Intelligent introduction to Michelangelo’s art and architecture surveyed chronologically. Accompanied by notes for further reading and more than two hundred small black-and-white illustrations. Intended for general readers but useful for students.
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Hughes, Anthony. Michelangelo. London: Phaidon, 1997.
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Relatively Recent general short overview of Michelangelo’s art and architecture. With glossary and suggested further reading. Well-illustrated with dozens of color plates. Intended for general public but useful for students.
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Nagel, Alexander. Michelangelo and the Reform of Art. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
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A study of the intensely religious Michelangelo demonstrating how his concerns with church reform influenced his art throughout his career, not just during the 1540s when he was closely associated with another reform-minded person, Vittoria Colonna. Michelangelo’s religiosity led to his sometimes adopting archaisms and other idiosyncratic usages of style to convey meaning. One hundred and five black-and-white illustrations.
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Tolnay, Charles de. Michelangelo. 5 vols. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1943–1960.
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Monograph and catalogue raisonné of Michelangelo’s career structured in five volumes: (1) Youth, (2) Sistine Ceiling, (3) Medici Chapel, (4) Tomb of Julius II, and (5) The Last Judgment, Pauline Chapel, and last Pietàs. Focuses on painting, sculpture, and drawings. Other commissions in the date range of each volume are included in the volume. Each commission is handled individually with all associated drawings to delineate phases of the project. Extensive bibliography and black-and-white illustrations.
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Wallace, William E., ed. Michelangelo: Selected Scholarship in English. 5 vols. New York: Garland, 1995.
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An anthology of classic articles on Michelangelo chosen by an authority in the field. Aimed particularly at graduate students interested in a selective overview of scholarly opinions on the artist. Small black-and-white photographs.
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SCULPTURE, 1550–1600
Pope-Hennessy 1996, volume 3 (cited under Reference Works), is the best survey of late-16th-century sculpture but Pratesi 2003 (cited under Sculpture, 1500–1550) supplements this corpus of photographs. Cole 2011 provides a more specialized view of the aesthetics of late-16th-century sculpture. Otherwise, most of the literature is monographic, such as Avery 1987 on Giambologna,Cole 2002 and Nova and Schreurs 2003 on Cellini, and Paolozzi Strozzi 2011 on Ammannati. Weil-Garris 1983 focuses on the socle bases on the Piazza della Signoria. Cellini’s autobiography (Cellini 1998) is the first literary self-portrait by an artist.
Avery, Charles. Giambologna: The Complete Sculpture. Oxford: Phaidon, 1987.
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Monograph and catalogue raisonné of the major sculptor of the second half of the 16th century. Provides a biographical outline, a discussion of the major categories of the artist’s production, and an outline of his influence. Followed by a summary catalogue offering bibliography. Almost three hundred black-and-white illustrations with some color plates.
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Cellini, Benvenuto. Autobiography. Translated by George Bull. 3d rev. ed. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin, 1998.
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First autobiography by an artist and one of the earliest autobiographies in the early modern period. Invaluable for understanding Cellini’s life, art, psychology, and strategies of manipulating the patron, the reader, and the spectator.
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Cole, Michael. Cellini and the Principles of Sculpture. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
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Monograph investigating Cellini’s production in terms of the materials and techniques in which he worked. The Perseus is the exemplar of his sculpture in bronze, the Apollo and Hyacinth and Crucifixepitomize his marble carving (the Ganymede is also covered in an appendix), and the Salt-Cellar his production as a goldsmith. This triad is related closely to the theoretical writing by the artist and by his contemporaries. Sixty-six black-and-white figures.
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Cole, Michael. Ambitious Form: Giambologna, Ammanati, and Danti in Florence. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2011.
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Analyzes the transformation of Italian sculpture in the late 16th century when the apparent subject matter of sculptures, allegories, became an aestheticized multivalent expression of its formal means. Focuses on the three major sculptors of the late cinquecento and demonstrates how their artistic careers evolved in rivalry with each other. Illustrated with more than two hundred black-and-white figures.
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Nova, Alessandro, and Anna Schreurs, eds. Benvenuto Cellini: Kunst und Kunsttheorie im 16. Jahrhundert. Cologne: Böhlau Verlag, 2003.
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Anthology of eighteen essays by leading experts on Cellini’s art and artistic theory that also covers broader issues like the paragone, or comparison among the arts, and the nostalgia for antiquity during the 16th century. A limited number of black-and-white plates accompany each essay.
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Paolozzi Strozzi, Beatrice. L’acqua, la pietra, il fuoco: Bartolomeo Ammannati, scultore. Florence: Giunti, 2011.
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Essays by experts on Ammannati’s architecture and sculpture precede the extensive catalogue of Ammannati’s sculptures and drawings. These are integrated with painted views of his sculptures in situ and reconstructions of those never completed or later modified. Includes sonnets by his wife, Laura Battiferri, and Vasari relating to the artist. Hundreds of color illustrations and many figures in black-and-white.
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Weil-Garris, Kathleen. “On Pedestals: Michelangelo’s David, Bandinelli’s Hercules and Cacus, and the Sculpture of the Piazza della Signoria.” Römisches Jahrbuch für Kunstgeschichte 20 (1983): 377–415.
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The first analysis of the socles of the sculptures in the Piazza della Signoria which were designed by the artists to complement the statues they held. Through historical photographs and paintings reconstructs the original appearance of the ringhiera, or speakers’ platform, in front of the Palazzo Vecchio. Also assesses the development of the pedestal with inscriptions and relief sculpture. Thirty black-and-white illustrations.
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Medici 15th-Century Patronage
Three generations of the Medici family dominated Florentine 15th-century patronage. Ames-Lewis 1995 offers an overview of the family’s sway in art whereas Marchand and Wright 1998 looks at their patronage within the context of that of other families. Hatfield 1970 studies a confraternity, in which all three generations were active, and its impact on the visual arts. Kent 2000 focuses on Cosimo the Elder’s patronage while Beyer and Boucher 1993 addresses the commissions of Cosimo’s son Piero. Kent 2004 turns to the patronage of the third generation, Piero’s son Lorenzo.
Ames-Lewis, Francis, ed. The Early Medici and Their Artists. London: Birkbeck College, 1995.
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Ten scholars in the field present essays about various aspects of 15th-century Medicean patronage in architecture, sculpture, and painting. Covers commissions sponsored by Cosimo, Piero, and Lorenzo. Eight color essays and forty-eight black-and-white illustrations
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Beyer, Andreas, and Bruce Boucher, eds. Piero de’ Medici “il Gottoso” (1416–1469): Kunst im Dienste der Mediceer. Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1993.
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Anthology of nineteen essays by experts in the field about the patronage in art and architecture of Piero de’ Medici, the son of Cosimo. Limited black-and-white essays accompany each essay. Refutes any assumption that Piero’s physical infirmities or brief five-year rule limited his sponsorship of art and architecture both inside Florence and outside the city walls.
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Hatfield, Rab. “The ‘Compagnia de’ Magi.’” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes33 (1970): 107–161.
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Discusses the confraternity of the Magi, an important civic/religious association, particularly in 15th-century Florence, that organized pageants and theatrical spectacles to honor Epiphany. Analyzes how the Medici family came to play an influential role in the association, thereby further infiltrating Florentine society with their influence. Supported by an appendix of documents. No illustrations.
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Kent, Dale. Cosimo de’ Medici and the Florentine Renaissance: The Patron’s Oeuvre. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2000.
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Thorough analysis of all the art and architecture commissioned by Cosimo Pater Patriae, the founder of the Medici dynasty in Florence, and by his sons on behalf of the family, up until Cosimo’s death in 1464. Emphasizes Cosimo as the determining agent in this wide roster of commissions. Supported by considerable documentation and almost two hundred illustrations, mainly in color.
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Kent, Francis William. Lorenzo de’ Medici and the Art of Magnificence. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004.
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To analyze whether Lorenzo’s title “Il Magnifico” is mythical, examines the artistic and architectural patronage of Lorenzo and of others influenced by him through a close study of the documentary evidence and historical context. Covers villa design, collecting, sculpture, painting, and architecture. Twenty-eight black-and-white illustrations.
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Marchand, Eckart, and Alison Wright, eds. With and without the Medici: Studies in Tuscan Art and Patronage, 1434–1530. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 1998.
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Seven essays by authorities argue for the determining role of the patron in commissions in 15th-century Tuscany sponsored by the Medici and by other private citizens and corporate groups like nuns. Limited black-and-white figures illustrate each essay.
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Medici 16th-Century Patronage
The heads of three generations of the family dominated 16th-century patronage: Cosimo I, Francesco I, and Ferdinando I, all with an acute eye to the family’s advancement. Cox-Rearick 1984,Eisenbichler 2001, Hall 1979, and van Veen 2006 focus on Cosimo. Eisenbichler 2004 collects essays concerning the commissions initiated by or in honor of his wife as well. Jacks 1998 surveys the broader themes of cultural politics at Cosimo’s court. Francesco’s patronage focused on the marvels of art, alchemy, and science and is most clearly analyzed by Berti 2002 and Conticelli 2007(cited under Painting, 1550–1600). Ferdinando’s patronage is dealt with by Saslow 1996, which who focuses on the important theme of temporary decorations. The Medici Archive Project provides documentation relevant to all three generations.
Berti, Luciano. Il principe dello studiolo: Francesco I dei Medici e la fine del rinascimento fiorentino. Pistoia: Machietto & Musolino, 2002.
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Authoritative analysis of the artistic and scientific patronage of Francesco I de’ Medici, the second Medici grand duke. Extensive register of documents and more than 220 black-and-white illustrations. Originally published in 1967.
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Cox-Rearick, Janet. Dynasty and Destiny in Medici Art: Pontormo, Leo X, and the Two Cosimos. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1984.
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Deals with the major Medicean themes connecting the family’s dynasty to the destiny of the city it ruled for centuries, which range from an analysis of the cosmological imagery establishing this link to the painting, sculpture, and architecture that articulate it. Nearly two hundred black-and-white figures and two color illustrations.
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Eisenbichler, Konrad, ed. The Cultural Politics of Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 2001.
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Anthology of fourteen essays by experts in the field about Cosimo I’s use of the arts and literature in his political dealings with other states in Italy and about his sponsorship of various sorts of cultural enterprises. Each essay accompanied by limited number of black-and-white figures.
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Eisenbichler, Konrad, ed. The Cultural World of Eleonora di Toledo, Duchess of Florence and Spain. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 2004.
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Anthology of ten essays by experts dealing with the imagery of Eleonora da Toledo and the artistic commissions associated with her. Limited number of black-and-white figures accompany each essay.
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Hall, Marcia B. Renovation and Counter-Reformation: Vasari and Duke Cosimo in Sta. Maria Novella and Sta. Croce, 1565–1577. Oxford: Clarendon, 1979.
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Examines the religious art of the Counter–Maniera generation (mid-16th century) of painters who provided the altarpieces for Santa Maria Novella and Santa Croce in the renovations of those two churches spurred by the Counter-Reformation. These projects were supervised by Vasari at the behest of Cosimo I and served patronage advantages as well. Extensively documented and illustrated with 113 black-and-white plates.
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Jacks, Philip, ed. Vasari’s Florence: Artists and Literati at the Medicean Court. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
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Anthology of fourteen essays by experts dealing with the artistic and literary culture of the grand-ducal court of Florence in the later 16th century. Focuses on Vasari’s influence at the court, through his art and writings. Covers the period from Cosimo’s accession in 1537 until Vasari’s death in 1574 and all media overseen by the great entrepreneur. Twelve color plates and 104 black-and-white illustrations.
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Medici Archive Project.
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Online database of letters, documents, and biographical records from the Medici grand-ducal archive covering Tuscany from 1537 to beyond 1600.
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Saslow, James. The Medici Wedding of 1589: Florentine Festival as Theatrum Mundi. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1996.
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Studies through extant documentation and drawings the temporary decorations designed to transform the cityscape in honor of the wedding of Ferdinando I de’ Medici to the French princess Christine de Lorraine. Saslow bases his reconstructions on extensive interdisciplinary document analysis of the temporary settings constructed and the theatrical and musical performances. Includes details about costume, set designs, and pageants. Eighty-eight black-and-white illustrations.
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Veen, Henk Th. van. Cosimo I de’ Medici and His Self-Representation in Florentine Art and Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
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Overview analyzes Cosimo’s patronage of art, architecture, and culture in an integrated presentation. Covers his secular and religious commissions in all the arts. Details how he self-consciously aimed to downplay his dynastic rule of the city and to glorify the Florentine Republic as though it still existed. Sixty-three black-and-white illustrations.
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Art in the Domestic Setting
Schiaparelli 1983 and Thornton 1991 provide general surveys of the space and furnishings of Italian residential interiors. Barriault 1994 isolated a category of painted imagery that decorated the upper walls of bedrooms of Renaissance Florentine residences with myths and legends. Baskins 1998discusses the marriage chests very popular in 15th-century Florence and their mode of decoration.Olson 2000 analyzes the circular paintings and sculptures that became popular in Florentine domestic imagery in the late 15th century. Bayer 2008 covers all sorts of commissions for the interior from portraiture to objects associated with love, marriage, childbirth, and erotica. Musacchio 2008discusses all stages of family life and the objects related to them. Musacchio 1999 deals with the rituals of childbirth and the resulting commissions.
Barriault, Anne B. Spalliera Paintings of Renaissance Tuscany: Fables of Poets for Patrician Homes. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1994.
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Collects and discusses the paintings depicting historical, mythological, and poetic subject matter from antiquity that were commissioned to be set into the furniture and decorate the walls of Tuscan private residences. Provides sources and documents and analyzes their visual conventions and narrative modes as well as their moral meanings. Provides a catalogue and dozens of black-and-white illustrations.
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Baskins, Cristelle L. Cassone Painting, Humanism, and Gender in Early Modern Italy. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
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Studies Italian 15th-century painted marriage chests in terms of the representations of historical and legendary Roman women depicted on them and the multiple and diverse lessons these tales were meant to impart to the women and men who lived with them. Fifty-nine black-and-white figures.
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Bayer, Andrea, ed. Art and Love in Renaissance Italy. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2008.
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Issued in connection with an exhibition held 11 November 2008–16 February 2009, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and 15 March–14 June 2009, Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth. Five essays by scholars in the field introduce a catalogue of an exhibition that covered all sorts of objects in a wide variety of media associated with love, marriage, and childbirth, as well as erotica. Also included were portraits commissioned to recall beloved individuals, whether spouses, betrothed, or ideal images of imagined beloved figures. Accompanied by an extensive scholarly bibliography and illustrated with 150 plates, almost all in color.
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Musacchio, Jacqueline Marie. The Art and Ritual of Childbirth in Renaissance Italy. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1999.
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Deals with the rituals of Renaissance childbirth and the material culture of gifts and accessories associated with it, particularly the birth trays or deschi da parto, which were decorated with scenes of birth and emblems of fecundity and prosperity. Also discusses the majolica bowls and utensils decorated with scenes of maternal life. Appendixes with inventories and lists of wedding and childbirth expenses. More than 150 illustrations, many in color.
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Musacchio, Jacqueline Marie. Art, Marriage, and Family in the Florentine Renaissance Palace. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2008.
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Analyzes all stages of family life within the spaces where they were enacted. Examines the spaces and objects within aristocratic families’ palaces to show how people interacted with art on a daily basis. Particularly interested in the objects purchased or given at the time of marriage. Extensively documented with inventories and illustrated with hundreds of plates, mostly in color.
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Olson, Roberta J. M. The Florentine Tondo. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
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Traces origins and development of the circular format for religious and secular subjects in painting and in sculpture that flourished in the second half of the 15th century and early 16th century in Florence. Assesses its prototypes, meanings, and functions. Twelve color plates and hundreds of black-and-white illustrations.
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Schiaparelli, Attilio. La casa fiorentina e i suoi arredi nei secoli XIV e XV. 2 vols. Edited by Mina Gregori, Maria Sframeli, and Laura Pagnotta. Florence: Le Lettere, 1983.
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Analyzes the ground plans, spaces, decorations, and material furnishings of Florentine private residences in the 14th and 15th centuries. Three hundred and thirty-nine black-and-white figures. Originally published in 1908. Reprinted with tables.
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Thornton, Peter. The Italian Renaissance Interior, 1400–1600. New York: Abrams, 1991.
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Traces the history of Italian domestic architecture, furnishings, and decoration during the 15th and 16th centuries. Tracks furniture by materials and types. Analyzes ground plans and the functions of various rooms in the home. Depends upon illustrations of domestic settings in paintings and prints of the period. Florentine examples are included but more evidence about them has to be inferred from that pertaining to other regions. Three hundred and seventy-nine illustrations, diagrams, and plans, most in color.
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Miscellaneous (Iconography and Typology)
Trexler 1972 studies the various ritual roles that sacred images played in Renaissance Florence while Holmes 2011 focuses on about forty miracle-working images in Renaissance Florence.Bambach 1999 analyzes the working practices of Florentine painters based on graphic evidence.Hind 1938–1948 collects and catalogues Florentine 15th- and early-16th-century prints. Barzman 2000 traces the institutionalization of artistic theory and practice in mid-16th-century Florence.Christiansen and Weppelmann 2011 analyzes the development of portraiture in sculpture, painting, and drawings in the 15th and early 16th centuries. Wiles 1933 devotes a study to Florentine fountains of the 15th and 16th centuries. Steinberg 1996 argues for previously unacknowledged religious meanings in representations of the nude Christ child.
Bambach, Carmen C. Drawing and Painting in the Italian Renaissance Workshop: Theory and Practice, 1300–1600. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
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Re-evaluates the working methods of artists and their assistants in the creation of monumental painting on the basis of textual and graphic evidence. Analyzes representative wall paintings and the many drawings related to the various stages of their production, and demonstrates that between 1430 and 1600, cartoons—apparently utilitarian drawings—became common practice. These findings have consequences as well for the period’s design theory. Fourteen color illustrations and diagrams, three hundred black-and-white figures.
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Barzman, Karen-edis. The Florentine Academy and the Early Modern State: The Discipline of Disegno. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
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History of the origins and first 175 years of history of the first academy for artists, founded in Florence in 1563, and its relations with several generations of grand-ducal government. Deals with the institutionalization of the discipline called “disegno” (drawing and composition) as a core part of artistic training. Extensive appendix of supporting documentation and two dozen black-and-white illustrations.
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Christiansen, Keith, and Stefan Weppelmann, eds. The Renaissance Portrait: From Donatello to Bellini. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2011.
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Published in conjunction with an exhibition held at the Bode-Museum, Berlin, 25 August–20 November 2011, and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 21 December 2011–18 March 2012. Lavishly illustrated exhibition catalogue covering portraiture in all media from painting and drawing to sculpture throughout Italy, but with a focus on Florence, prefaced by essays by experts in the field.
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Hind, Arthur Mayger. Early Italian Engraving. Vol. 1–4. Part 1. London: B. Quaritch, 1938–1948.
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Hind catalogues and illustrates Florentine prints of the 15th and early 16th centuries in this section of his corpus on prints.
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Holmes, Megan. “Miraculous Images in Renaissance Florence.” Art History 34.3 (June 2011): 433–465.
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Focuses on about forty miraculous images and image cults in Florence and its territory from c. 1250‑1600. The author devotes particular interest to the materiality of the images and its relation to the images’ supernatural qualities.
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Steinberg, Leo. The Sexuality of Christ in Renaissance Art and in Modern Oblivion. 2d rev. ed. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1996.
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Discusses representation of the Christ Child with bared navel and genitalia as emblem of the 15th-century theological concern to devise a pictorial language to convey the incarnate Christ. In Steinberg’s view, post-Renaissance prudery led to the absence of discussion of this phenomenon. Case argued in three hundred black-and-white illustrations.
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Trexler, C. Richard. “Florentine Religious Experience: The Sacred Image.” Studies in the Renaissance 19 (1972): 7–41.
DOI: 10.2307/2857086Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Analyzes the ritual uses of the Madonna of Impruneta, a thaumaturgic icon of the Madonna and Child whose cult was of prime importance to Florence between the mid-14th and the mid-16th centuries. Traces the ways in which she was venerated, the powers she was believed to embody, and the devotional practices by which those powers were invoked. Seminal article on religious art that demonstrates the continuities between the medieval and renaissance periods. No illustrations.
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Wiles, B. Harris. The Fountains of Florentine Sculptors and Their Followers from Donatello to Bernini. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1933.
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After a brief introduction on 15th-century fountains, the book analyzes Florentine late-16th-century examples and finally their influences on Bernini. Most of the Florentine examples are garden fountains set in late cinquecento villa surroundings, which the author organizes by structural typology, for example, candelabrum type, and so on. More than two hundred black-and-white illustrations.
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