Images of Quattrocento Florence: Selected Writings in Literature, History, and Art

Images of Quattrocento Florence: Selected Writings in Literature, History, and Art by Baldassarri, Professor Stefano Ugo. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780300080513.

This anthology provides a panoramic view of fifteenth-century Florence in the words of the citys own citizens and visitors. The fifty-one selections, many translated into English for the first time, offer fascinating glimpses into Renaissance thought. Together, the documents demonstrate the social, political, religious, and cultural impact Florence had in shaping the Italian and European Renaissance, and they reveal how Florence created, developed, and diffused the mythology of its own origins and glory. The documents point up the divergences in quattrocento accounts of the origins of Florence, and they reveal the importance of the citys economy, social life, and military success to the formation of its image. The book includes sources that elaborate on the citys accomplishments in literature and the visual arts, others that present major trends in Florentine religious life, and still others that attest to the acclaim and admiration that Florence evoked from foreign visitors. The editors also provide an informative introduction, a detailed chronology of fifteenth-century Italy, maps, photographs, an annotated bibliography, and a biographical sketch of the author of each document