Main entry:

Kent, D. V. (Dale V.)

Title & Author:

Cosimo de' Medici and the Florentine Renaissance : the patron's oeuvre / Dale Kent.

Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press, ©2000.

Description:

xiii, 537 pages : illustrations (some color), maps ; 29 cm

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 494-522) and index.
Part I -- The patron's oeuvre -- Cosimo's oeuvre -- Cosimo's letters -- Learning the lessons of Florentine culture : Who Cosimo knew -- Educating the patron : What Cosimo read -- Part II -- The common culture of the Florentine audience : The Medici share in this -- Venues and performances -- Compilations and the corpus of texts -- Popular devotion and the perception of images -- Images of Florentine patronage refracted through popular culture -- Part III -- Cosimo's religious commissions -- Expiation, charity, intercession -- Building "for the honor of God, and the honor of the city, and the memory of me" -- Part IV -- The house of the Medici -- The palace : Measuring self on the urban map -- Accommodating the patron -- The chapel in the heart of the palace : A microcosm of Medici patronage -- Part V -- The patron as "auctor" -- Patrons and their artists : "The variety of genius" -- The patron's choice : Princes, patricians, partisans -- Conclusion : An oeuvre defines its patron : Cosimo's visible image -- Appendix A : A list of what appear to be popular miscellanies compiled from the Pupilli records.
Dust jacket.

Summary:

"Cosimo de'Medici (1389-1464), the fabulously wealthy banker who became the leading citizen of Florence in the fifteenth century, spent lavishly as the city's most important patron of art and literature. This book is the first comprehensive examination of the whole body of works of art and architecture commissioned by Cosimo and his sons. By looking closely at this spectacular group of commissions, we gain an entirely new picture of their patron, and of the patron's point of view. Recurrent themes in the commissions - from Fra Angelico's San Marco altarpiece to the Medici palace - indicate the main interests to which Cosimo's patronage gave visual expression. Dale Kent offers new insights and perspectives on the individual objects comprising the Medici oeuvre by setting them within the context of civic and popular culture in early Renaissance Florence, and of Cosimo's life as the leader of the Medici lineage and the dominant force in the governing elite." "From the wealth of available documentation illuminating Cosimo de'Medici's life, the author considers how his own experience influenced his patronage; how the culture of Renaissance Florence provided a common idiom for the patron, his artists, and his audience; what he preferred and intended as a patron; and how focussing on his patronage of art alters the image of him that is based on his roles as banker and politician. Cosimo was as much a product as a shaper of Florentine society, Kent concludes. She identifies civic patriotism and devotion as the main themes of his oeuvre and argues that religious imperatives may well have been more important than political ones in shaping the art for which he was responsible and its reception."--Jacket.

ISBN:

0300081286 (alk. paper)
9780300081282 (alk. paper)

Subject:

Medici, Cosimo de', 1389-1464 Art patronage.
Medici, Cosimo de', 1389-1464 Mécénat.
Medici, Cosimo de', 1389-1464
Arts, Italian Italy Florence.
Arts, Renaissance Italy Florence.
Art, Italian Italy Florence.
Art italien Italie Florence.
Arts de la Renaissance Italie Florence.
Arts italiens Italie Florence.
Arte Firenze Sec. 15.
Rinascimento Firenze.
Mecenatismo Firenze Sec. 15.
Art, Italian
Art patronage
Arts, Italian
Arts, Renaissance
Manners and customs
Kunstbevordering.
Renaissance Italy Florence.
Florence (Italy) Social life and customs.
Florence (Italie) Mœurs et coutumes.
Firenze Vita artistica e culturale Sec. 15.
Italy Florence

Holdings:

Location: Library main 213834
Call No.: NX701.2.M43 K4 2000
Status: Available