Living on the Edge in Leonardo's Florence: Selected Essays
Gene Brucker
Abstract
This book provides an overview of Italian history from the Black Death to the rise of the Medici in 1434 and beyond into the early modern period. The book explores those pivotal years in Florence and ranges over northern Italy, with forays into the histories of Genoa, Milan, and Venice. Five of the chapters explore themes in the premodern period and delve into Italy's political, social, economic, religious, and cultural development. Among these pieces is a synoptic view of the Italian Renaissance. The last five chapters focus more narrowly on Florentine topics, including a fascinating look at ... More
This book provides an overview of Italian history from the Black Death to the rise of the Medici in 1434 and beyond into the early modern period. The book explores those pivotal years in Florence and ranges over northern Italy, with forays into the histories of Genoa, Milan, and Venice. Five of the chapters explore themes in the premodern period and delve into Italy's political, social, economic, religious, and cultural development. Among these pieces is a synoptic view of the Italian Renaissance. The last five chapters focus more narrowly on Florentine topics, including a fascinating look at the dangers and anxieties that threatened Florence in the fifteenth century during Leonardo's time and a mini-biography of Alessandra Strozzi, whose letters to her exiled sons contain the evidence for her eventful life.
Keywords:
Florence,
Leonardo,
Italian history,
Black Death,
Medici,
Machiavelli,
Italian Renaissance,
Alessandra Strozzi
Bibliographic Information
Print publication date: 2005 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780520241343 |
Published to California Scholarship Online: March 2012 |
DOI:10.1525/california/9780520241343.001.0001 |