Building on important issues highlighted by the late Philip Jones, this volume explores key aspects of the city state in late-medieval and Renaissance Italy, particularly the nature and quality of different types of government. It focuses on the apparently antithetical but often similar governmental forms represented by the republics and despotisms of the period. Beginning with a reprint of Jones's original 1965 article, the volume then provides twenty new essays that re-examine the issues...

The historiography of the Italian Renaissance has been much studied, but generally in the context of a few key figures. Much less appreciated is the extent of the enthusiasm for the subject in the 19th and early 20th centuries, when the subject was 'discovered' by travellers and men and women of letters, historians, artists, architects and photographers, and by collectors on both sides of the Atlantic. The essays in Victorian and Edwardian Responses to the Italian Renaissance explore the b...

In 1957, Giuseppe Tomasi, the last Prince of the Sicilian Lampedusa family, died impoverished and unknown, leaving behind the manuscript of a book he had recently finished. The following year the book, The Leopard, was published in Italy and has since been widely translated and recognized as one of the great novels of the twentieth century. For over a quarter of a century, the reclusive man's papers were hidden from the public, until David Gilmour was befriended by Lampedusa's adopted son....

The opera singer Giusto Ferdinando Tenducci was one of the most famous celebrities of the eighteenth century. In collaboration with the English composer Thomas Arne, he popularized Italian opera, translating it for English audiences and making it accessible with his own compositions which he performed in London's pleasure gardens. Mozart and J. C. Bach both composed for him. He was a rock star of his day, with a massive female following. He was also a castrato. Women flocked to his concert...

The Italian Baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi is considered one of the most accomplished painters in the generation following Caravaggio. In an era when women painters were not easily accepted by the artistic community or patrons, she was the first woman to become a member of the Accademia di Arte del Disegno in Florence, achieving fame for her many depictions of strong female characters from myth and the Bible. Delphi’s Masters of Art Series presents the world’s first digital e...

At thirty one, Michelangelo was considered the finest artist in Italy, perhaps the world; long before he died at almost 90 he was widely believed to be the greatest sculptor or painter who had ever lived (and, by his enemies, to be an arrogant, uncouth, swindling miser).For decade after decade, he worked near the dynamic centre of events: the vortex at which European history was changing from Renaissance to Counter Reformation. Few of his works - including the huge frescoes of the ...

This stunning eBook is a concise illustrated guide, evaluating the masterpieces that have changed the course of art as we know it. Whether an art novice or a cultivated connoisseur, this eBook offers you an intriguing overview of the world’s most famous and iconic artworks. Illustrated with over 500 full colour images, it builds upon Delphi’s groundbreaking Masters of Art Series — the world’s first digital e-Art books. Through the analysis of 50 famous and innovative paintings, the...

Giovanni Bellini revolutionised Venetian painting, developing a more sensuous and colouristic style. Through his use of clear, slow-drying oil paints, Bellini created deep, rich tints and detailed shadings, producing sumptuous artworks that were significant to the Italian Renaissance, especially for his pupils Giorgione and Titian. Delphi’s Masters of Art Series presents the world’s first digital e-Art books, allowing readers to explore the works of great artists in comprehensive d...

The Venetian old master Canaletto achieved international fame for his landscapes, ‘vedute’, which were celebrated for their masterful expression of atmosphere. His detailed paintings of Venice, London and English country homes influenced succeeding generations of landscape artists. Delphi’s Masters of Art Series presents the world’s first digital e-Art books, allowing readers to explore the works of great artists in comprehensive detail. This volume presents Canaletto’s collected w...

A personally compelling introduction to Leonardo's genius, a classic monograph of Leonardo's art and his development.

This is the biography of 7 painters who, from the 14th to the 19th century changed the history of art forever. The book is not just about their painting but also tells about their lives, their triumphs and their disasters.

**One of The New Yorker's Best Books of the Year"A lively book.…[Luzzi] brilliantly sets the operatic stage of vibrant, violent Renaissance Florence and brings to life the characters who helped resurrect Botticelli." —Max Norman, Wall Street Journal**Some five hundred years ago, Sandro Botticelli, a painter of humble origin, created works of unearthly beauty. A star of Florence’s art world, he was commissioned by a member of the city’s powerful Medici fami...