Full Description
Naples was by far the largest urban center on the Italian peninsula during the early modern period, and in the years covered by this book, from the early 1300s to the early 1600s, its inhabitants witnessed vast programs of building and decoration spurred by the cultural needs of royal, ecclesiastical, and baronial elites. Yet the city's many beautiful churches and palaces, stone sculptures, fresco cycles, and altarpieces have not received the sustained attention in Anglophone scholarship that has been lavished for generations on other major centers of artistic production, such as Florence, Rome, or Venice. This book surveys the visual arts in Renaissance Naples, offering diachronic overviews of urban design, ecclesiastical architecture, painting, tomb sculpture, and palaces, along with a substantial introduction to the complex social and political history of the city.
Contents
Introduction: Naples in myth and history Ronald G. Musto; 1. Giorgio Vasari's critique of art and patronage in Naples Thomas Willette; 2. Urban design and public spaces Anna Giannetti; 3. Ecclesiastical architecture and the religious orders Charlotte Nichols; 4. Patrons and paintings from the Anjou to the Spanish Hapsburgs Serena Romano; 5. Tombs and the ornamentation of chapels Tanja Michalsky; 6. The residence of power Gérard Labrot; Bibliography.
