The Florentine Enlightenment 1400-1450

The Florentine Enlightenment 1400-1450

A study of the revolutionary development in art and thought which took place in early fifteenth-century Florence, this book is a new approach to political philosophy, history, art, and architecture that was inspired by the teaching and writings of a group of humanist thinkers who paved the way for the great achievements of the later Renaissance. Holmes explores the ideas of the humanists and traces their influence on the writing of history, political philosophy, and aesthetics. The new humanist secular thought was paralleled, and even directly applied in some cases, by a number of brilliant Florentine artists headed by Brunelleschi, Donatello, and Masaccio. In architecture, sculpture, and painting these men produced masterpieces which gave form to the humanist ideal of classical inspiration related to real life. Holmes examines this brief but enlightened phase in the history of art and ideas within its historical context, setting it against the background of Florence's fluctuating relationship with an enfeebled papacy and the wider Italian political scene. `The Florentine Enlightenment is a pleasure to read ... It can be heartily recommended to the general reader as well as to the student of the Renaissance.' Times Literary Supplement `Dr Holmes has turned the interpretation of the Florentine Renaissance down an important new path.' Cambridge Review`The exposition is clear and persuasive.' Sunday Times`The publication in paperback of George Holmes's book, The Florentine Enlightenment 1400-1450, will be welcomed by both the student and the general reader interested in the connections between letters and the visual arts in the Early Renaissance. ... the book has become a standard work on the subject, its success being due in no small part to its accessibility, its logical structure and the interesting insights it affords into the art, architecture, philosophy, politics and religious attitudes of the period.' Ray Dunning, Education'will be welcomed by both the student and the general reader interested in the connections between letters and the visual arts in the Early Renaissance ... the book has become a standard work on the subject, its success being due in no small part to its accessibility, its logical structure and the interesting insights it affords into the art, architecture, philosophy, politics and religious attitudes of the period' Ray Dunning, Education`Holme's account is both agreeable and persuasive; it provides a welcome corrective to both the Baron and Seigal views, and the attention paid to the political background to events renders this book highly suitable as an upper-year textbook...his picture of Florentine-Roman humanism remains compelling, and it is good to have it bacj again in an inexpensive paperback.' Dalhousie review Professor Holmes is the author of Dante (Past Masters 1980), Florence, Rome, and the Origins of the Renaissance (Clarendon Press 1986, pbk 1988), and the editor of the Oxford Illustrated History of Medieval Europe (1988, Oxford Paperbacks 1990).