With a freshness and breadth of approach that sets the art in its context, this book explores why works were created and who commissioned the palaces, cathedrals, paintings, and sculptures. Chapters are grouped into four chronological parts, allowing for a sustained examination of individual cities in different periods.

With a freshness and breadth of approach that sets the art in its context, this book explores why works were created and who commissioned the palaces, cathedrals, paintings, and sculptures. It covers Rome and Florence, Venice and the Veneto, Assisi, Siena, Milan, Pavia, Genoa, Padua, Mantua, Verona, Ferrara, Urbino, and Naples. Chapters are grouped into four chronological parts, allowing for a sustained examination of individual cities in different periods. "Contemporary Scene" boxes provide fascinating glimpses of daily life and "Contemporary Voice" boxes quote from painters and writers of the time. Innovative and scholarly, yet accessible and beautifully presented, this book is a definitive work on the Italian Renaissance.

Introduction: Art in Context
Part I The Late Thirteenth and the Fourteenth Century
Chapter 1 The Origins of the Renaissance
Chapter 2 Rome: Artists, Popes, and Cardinals
Chapter 3 Assisi and Padua: Narrative Realism
Chapter 4 Florence: Traditions and Innovations
Chapter 5 Siena: City of the Virgin
Chapter 6 Naples: Art for a Royal Kingdom
Chapter 7 Venice: The Most Serene Republic
Chapter 8 Pisa and Florence: Morality and Judgment
Chapter 9 Visconti Milan and Carrara Padua
Part II The Fifteenth Century
Chapter 10 Florence: Commune and Guild
Chapter 11 Florence: The Medici and Political Propaganda
Chapter 12 Rome: Re-establishing Papal Power
Chapter 13 Venice: Affirming the Past and Present
Chapter 14 Courtly Art: The Gothic and Classic
Chapter 15 Sforza Milan
Part III The First Half of the Sixteenth Century
Chapter 16 Lombardy: Instability and Religious Fervor
Chapter 17 Florence: The Renewed Republic
Chapter 18 Rome: Julius II, Leo X, and Clement VII
Chapter 19 Mantua, Parma, and Genoa: The Arts at Court
Chapter 20 Florence: Mannerism and the Medici
Chapter 21 Venice: Vision and Monumentality
Part IV The Later Sixteenth Century
Chapter 22 The Rome of Paul III
Chapter 23 The Demands of the Council of Trent
Chapter 24 Northern Italy: Reform and Innovation
Chapter 25 Rome: A European Capital City
Geanealogy
List of Popes
List of Venetian Doges
Time Chart
Glossary
Bibliography
Literary Credits, Picture Credits, Index.