Deals with the Renaissance Florence and sheds light on its celebrated art and culture by examining the city's architectural and artistic achievements in their political, intellectual, and religious contexts. This title incorporates insights from the scholarship, including gender studies, and focuses on the artists' social status, and innovations.

“Rich and engaging. This account of Florentine art tells the story of who commissioned these works, who made them, where they were seen, and how they were experienced and understood by their viewers. Includes a useful timeline, glossary, and series of artists' biographies.”—Patricia L. Reilly, Swarthmore College

“An extraordinarily useful book, not only for teachers, but also for historically minded travelers interested in an illustrated guide to the art of Renaissance Florence.”—Evelyn Lincoln, Brown University

“Clear and compelling. The well-chosen illustrations include ground plans and diagrams of key architectural monuments and sculpture. The updated, judicious bibliography is a resource for anyone tackling the vast scholarship on the art of Renaissance Florence.”—Cristelle Baskins, editor of The Triumph of Marriage: Painted Cassoni of the Renaissance

In this absorbing illustrated history, Loren Partridge takes the reader on an insightful tour of Renaissance Florence and sheds new light on its celebrated art and culture by examining the city's great architectural and artistic achievements in their political, intellectual, and religious contexts. This essential and accessible text, the only up-to-date volume on Renaissance Florence currently available, incorporates insights from recent scholarship, including gender studies, while emphasizing the artists' social status, rivalries, and innovations. The result is a multilevel exploration of how the celebrated Florentine culture formally registers in specific works of art or architecture and how these works interactively informed and often shaped the culture.