Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This history of the Renaissance surveys the extraordinary impact of this culture which dramatically affected Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries. It examines the social, commercial and political background which enabled the arts to flourish at this time, stressing the importance of the great commercial cities, Florence, Bruges and Venice. Beginning with the Florentine Renaissance, the book traces the development of humanism in art, politics, science and philosophy, then discusses the impact of the High Renaissance in Italy on the rest of Europe.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

This gorgeously illustrated work elaborates on Fernand Braudel's thesis in Civilization & Capitalism (above) that the great commercial cities were at the center of the development of modern European life. Holmes argues that it was cities such as Florence and Antwerp that provided the environment necessary for the expression of the new attitudes to humanity by painters, sculptors, and writers, new attitudes "which then entered into the general European consciousness." (LJ 4/15/97) (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.