Art Of The Italian Renaissance Courts

In this fascinating study, Alison Cole explores the distinctive uses of art at the five great secular courts of Naples, Urbino, Ferrara, Mantua, and Milan. The princes who ruled these city-states, vying with each other and with the great European courts, relied on artistic patronage to promote their legitimacy and authority. Major artists and architects, from Mantegna and Pisanello to Bramante and Leonardo da Vinci, were commissioned to design, paint, and sculpt, but also to oversee the court's building projects and entertainments. The courtly styles that emerged from this intricate landscape are examined in detail, as are the complex motivations of ruling lords, consorts, nobles, and their artists. Drawing on the most recent scholarship, Cole presents a vivid picture of the art of this extraordinary period.

This book presents a new perspective on the Italian Renaissance court by examining the circulation, collection and exchange of art objects.

This fascinating study of Renaissance courtly art and culture in fifteenth and early sixteenth-century Italy encompasses the most recent scholarship on the courts, court art and noble values. Alison Cole not only considers the role of artists, but explores the distinctive uses to which art was put at the courts, from the smaller duchies and princely courts of Ferrara, Mantua and Urbino to the larger courts of Naples and Milan. The social, intellectual and artistic milieu of each court is brought vividly to life, along with the complex personalities of the rulers, their relationships with the civic and ecclesiastical authorities, and the role of court women as patrons of the arts. Drawing on a wide range of contemporary texts and visual material, Cole paints a rich picture of the these extraordinary courts in the moment of their greatest brilliance.

"Alison Cole reveals to us another side of the Renaissance, that of the individual patrons and their world. This unique book is both a scholarly discussion in the tradition of Jakob Burckhardt and a tour through Renaissance Italy, described with charm and filled with detail."--BOOK JACKET.

A complete overview of the Italian Renaissance courts covering all areas influenced by them: art, music, literature etc.

In this authoritative study, Alison Cole explores the distinctive uses of art at the five great secular courts of Naples, Urbino, Ferrara, Mantua and Milan. The princes who ruled these city-states, vying with each other and with the great European courts, relied on artistic patronage to promote their legitimacy and authority. Major artists and architects, from Mantegna and Pisanello to Bramante and Leonardo da Vinci, were commissioned to design, paint and sculpt, but also to oversee the court’s building projects and entertainments. Bronze medallions, illuminated manuscripts and rich tapestries, inspired by sources as varied as Roman coins, Byzantine ivories and French chivalric romances, were treasured and traded. Palaces were decorated, extravagant public spectacles were staged and whole cities were redesigned, to bring honour, but also solace and pleasure. The ‘courtly’ styles that emerged from this intricate landscape are examined in detail, as are the complex motivations of ruling lords, consorts, nobles and their artists. Drawing on the most recent scholarship, Cole presents a vivid picture of the art of this extraordinary period.

The first major paperback original books on art in almost two decades, aimed at the general reader and students and reflecting the most recent developments in art history.

Between the two splendid poles of Naples and Milan - the two great rival powers of Italy - were a cluster of duchies and princely courts, each with its own desire for fame. Like small jewels, these isolated towns and palaces glittered with artworks of the greatest virtuosity and remarkably innovative literature, music, and the sciences. In the service of their own magnificence, these great cities and tiny duchies gathered to themselves a remarkable collection of brilliant artists, poets, and scholars. The courts were the personal possessions of princes (including at least one woman); their task in the game of Italian politics was to maintain their status, wealth, and independence through skillful marriages, force of arms, strength of personality, and cultural power. Their aim as patrons of the arts and sciences was to enhance their prestige, their honor, and their glory. Alison Cole explores these extraordinary courts, large and small, in the moment of their greatest brilliance, seeing them as the inheritors of a medieval courtly tradition, in contrast to Florence and Venice, whose model was ancient Rome.