This enlightening volume offers a new interpretation of the Renaissance, a major movement in the history of art. Guided by one of the world's leading Renaissance art history scholars, readers embark on a journey of discovery that will transform their understanding of these transformative years in the history of civilization. Detailed interpretations of works of art and architecture that were produced during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in Italy help us to understand the true meaning of this term. Eschewing jargon and lengthy footnotes, the author frames the aesthetics of the Renaissance as a struggle between scientifically inspired problem-solving and irrational, intuitively based perception. Some artists and architects emerge as thoughtful intellectuals devoted to experimentation (the avant-garde) while others rely on the repetition of older methods (the conservatives). Because these opposite tendencies co-existed and interfaced with each other, it has been difficult to discover the true meaning of the Renaissance.

List of Illustrations vi Preface xi Frontispiece: Map of places mentioned xiii Introduction: The Italian Renaissance as an Idea Rather Than a Period 1 1 What a Difference a Hundred Years Makes 8 2 How It All Started: Florence and Umbria 31 3 What Happened Next in Florence 68 4 Searching for the Renaissance (1): Siena and Southward to Sicily 92 5 Searching for the Renaissance (2): From Northern Italy Back to Umbria 118 6 The Triumph of the Intellectual Avant-Garde: The High Renaissance 152 7 Some Other Artists of the High Renaissance 184 8 The Swan Song of Renaissance Art 200 9 The Break and the New Avant-Garde: Early Mannerism 209 10 What Was the Italian Renaissance? Conclusions in the Bigger Picture 246 Appendix A: Artists Mentioned 258 Appendix B: Some Suggested Readings 262 Index 267