Christianity and the Renaissance: Image and Religious Imagination in the Quattrocento

by John Verdon, Timothy D.;Henderson

About This This collection of essays "explores the interrelated issues that shaped religious feeling, practice, art, and thought in the early Italian Renaissance." Relying on insights drawn from anthropology, sociology, and psychology. the contributors have used a broad range of materials to interpret the period. The book is organized into 4 The Monastic World, The Religious World of the Laity, The World of the Christian Humanist, and Coda on Method. Book Trade paperback, 611 pp. B&w illustrations. Table of Contents Fra Angelico at San Marco; Monasteries, Friaries, and Nunneries in Quattrocento Florence; The Tree of Life and the Holy Cross; Some Special Images for Carmelites; The Scuole Grandi of Venice; Death and Christian Charity; Cult Objects and Artistic Patronage; The Word Made Flesh; Savonarola's Preaching and the Patronage of Art; Altarpieces and the Requirements of Patrons.

Genres: Art

611 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

Reviews

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another interesting essay collection on Renaissance Florence (mostly, there are one or two articles that venture to other parts of Italy). Like most books on the Renaissance, it's very fixated on what the Renaissance is and is not, when it started, when it ended, why it mattered (and to whom).

The quality of essays jumps around a little bit, but most are fun. My favorites were articles by Kaspar Elm (who discusses a literally centuries-long battle between the Augustinian canons and Augustinian hermits over who had the better claim to their titular saint), by Ronald Weissman (about lay preaching in Florentine confraternities), by Nerida Newbigin (about the absolutely CRAZY mystery plays that confraternities would put on for the city, and their hardcore special effects), by Salvatore Camporeale (about shifting monastic ideals) and by Charles Hope (about what patrons did and did not care about in Renaissance art).