Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This survey of Italian Renaissance art, from a new and different perspective, shows how art was a vital part of society and how all types of art and artists reflected the needs and aspirations of the culture from which they arose. Most books on Renaissance art are based on a chronological study of the major artists and their works. In this book, Bruce Cole covers the major types of art from c. 1250 to c. 1550, discusses their origins and development, documents their use and function, and describes their form and how and why the artists shaped them that way. Art is thus firmly connected with the life and society of the Renaissance rather than viewed as a separate entity: painting and sculpture are seen in their proper context. After a wide-ranging introduction, there are chapters on Italian Renaissance art in relation to domestic life, worship, civic life, death and afterlife, and Renaissance images and ideals.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

This book is not a standard chronological history of Italian art. Rather, in three chapters Cole presents general descriptions of domestic interiors, church interiors, the civic environment and the various types of art that decorated them, often moving back and forth in time in his selection. A fourth chapter deals primarily with portraiture and how those who could afford to have their images painted or carved or cast thought of themselves. Books of this nature always raise questions about choice and presentation, although within the basic introductory approach that Cole has chosen, he does a reasonable job. The book will not displace W. Paatz's earlier and similar appraoch to this material in The Arts of the Italian Renaissance (CH, Mar '76). Cole does suggest certain developments over the 300 years which he discusses-the shift to a collector's mentality and the shift to a more idiosyncratic and private portraiture, for example. He does not, however, suggest why such changes-and others-occur, nor does he give enough sense that any type or work of art functions within a specific historical context. Treating works of art primarily as decorations produced within conventional types may serve to enhance their value as luxury items, but does ignore a critical aspect of the way they functioned, which is, after all, the presumed topic of the book. Level: lower-division undergraduate.-J.T. Paoletti, Wesleyan University

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Bruce Cole is Distinguished Professor of Fine Arts at Indiana University. A former Fellow of the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities, he is the author of Giotto and Florentine Painting, The Renaissance Artist at Work, Italian Art, 1250-1500 and other books.