The Renaissance In Rome

Probes the basic attitudes, the underlying values and the core convictions that Rome's intellectuals and artists experienced, lived for, and believed in from Pope Eugenius IV's reign to the Eternal City in 1443 to the sacking of 1527.

From the middle of the fifteenth century a distinctively Roman Renaissance occurred. A shared outlook, a persistent set of intellectual concerns, similar cultural assumptions and a commitment to common ideological aims bound Roman humanists and artists to a uniquely Roman world, different from Florence, Venice, and other Italian and European centers.This book provides the first comprehensive portrait of the Roman Renaissance world. Charles Stinger probes the basic attitudes, the underlying values and the core convictions that Rome's intellectuals and artists experienced, lived for, and believed in from Pope Eugenius IV's reign to the Eternal City in 1443 to the sacking of 1527. He demonstrates that the Roman Renaissance was not the creation of one towering intellectual leader, or of a single identifiable group; rather, it embodied the aspirations of dozens of figures, active over an eighty-year period.Stinger illuminates the general aims and character of the Roman Renaissance. Remaining mindful of the economic, social, and political context--Rome's retarded economic growth, the papacy's increasing entanglement in Italian politics, papal preoccupation with the crusade against the Ottomans, and the effects of papal fiscal and administrative practices--Stinger nevertheless maintains that these developments recede in importance before the cultural history of the period. Only in the context of the ideological and cultural commitments of Roman humanists, artists, and architects can one fully understand the motivation for papal policies. Reality for Renaissance Romans was intricately bound up with the notion of Rome's mythic destiny.The Renaissance in Rome is cultural history at its best. It evokes the moods, myths, images, and symbols of the Eternal City, as they are manifested in the Liturgy, ceremony, festivals, oratory, art, and architecture of Renaissance Rome. Throughout, Stinger focuses on a persistent constellation of fundamental themes: the image of the city of Rome, the restoration of the Roman Church, the renewal of the Roman Empire, and the fullness of time. He describes and analyzes the content, meaning, origin, and implications of these central ideas of Roman Renaissance.This book will prove interesting to both Renaissance and Reformation scholars, as well as to general readers, who may have visited (or plan to visit) Rome and have become fascinated and affected by this extraordinary city. "There is no other book like it in any language," says Renaissance historian John O'Malley. "It presents a coherent view of Roman culture....collects and presents a vast amount of information never before housed under one roof. Anyone who teaches the Italian Renaissance," O'Malley stresses, "will have to know this book."

"Peter Partner is an established scholar, qualified by his research on The Papal State Under Martin Vand The Lands of St. Peterto write this general book on Renaissance Rome. The titles of the chapters of the book are tantalizing, and they indicate the breadth of issues under review: politics, economics, population, "noble life" and "daily life", and, finally, "the spirit of a city and the spirit of an age." No similar, recent study exists for Rome, and Partner's book responds to a genuine need. The book is written with wit and good style, and it contains a great deal of information . . . "--John W. O'Malley, University of Detroit, Canadian Journal of History, 13(1), pp. 115 - 116.

For undergraduate courses after the introductory survey. Suitable also as supplement to the introductory survey. Suitable also for junior-senior-level and specialized courses. Part of Prentice Hall's Perspectives series of moderately priced, heavily illustrated, high-quality paperback books on specific subjects in art history, this book discusses the art of Rome in the Renaissance in the context of its patronage.

Publisher Description

An exciting interdisciplinary study based on new literary, historical, and bibliographical evidence, this book will appeal to students and scholars of the Italian Renaissance, the Reformation, and the history of the book.

A revisionist view of Renaissance architectural design as a dialectical process engaging word and image in the creation of Raphael's masterwork.

Drawn from five large volumes published between 1825 and 1882, this student's edition showcases the architectural splendor of Renaissance Rome for a new generation. Paul Letarouilly's original work constitutes the standard reference, presenting the most complete collection of plans, elevations, and details of great buildings and monuments designed by Michelangelo, Peruzzi, Vignola, Bernini, and many others.