It pulls you inside the story and gives you an overview of how the Medici were influential in the Italian Renaissance.

Florence, 1479: House servant Bellina Sardi’s future seems fixed when she accompanies her newly married mistress, Lisa Gherardini, to her home across the Arno. Stephen Greenblatt most famously wrote of the European response to the Americas as the “colonization of the marvelous,” whereas Sabine MacCormack and Anthony Grafton have demonstrated the many ways that Europeans compared the New World to antiquity. In the only full-length art-historical survey to examine European representations of the Americas, Hugh Honour more than four decades ago wrote that “no hunters after curiosa were more avid collectors of Mexican objects than the Medici in Florence. Strathern covers the members of the family who were influential outside Florence, from two Popes to Catherine de’ Medici. For a more detailed focus on a singular Medici family member, this is one of the best Medici books out there.More importantly, it shows how the idea of the Americas changed collectors’ and artists’ very conceptions of art, collection and display, gift giving, and allegory. If you have a promotional code or a quote code please enter it here so our site displays the offers for that promotion.

It demonstrates that transformations ensued as more information reached Florence but also makes clear that the process of integrating the novelty of the Americas was not consistent. In his article in Fredi Chiappelli’s seminal 1976 volume, First Images of America: The Impact of the New World on the Old, Donald Robertson tried to answer the fundamental question, “But what influence, if any, did the discovery of America and pre-conquest art have on European art? But within a few minutes of watching the pilot episode, I knew I’d found my next binge-worthy series. Starting from Giovanni di’Bicci de’Medici to Gian Gastone de’Medici, the book covers all; interspersed with the times of artists, architects, political figures and socialites for whom the Renaissance is known.When art and war collide, Leonardo da Vinci, his beautiful subject Lisa, and a portrait find themselves in the crosshairs of history. Change country: -Select- Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Republic Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Islands Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Cook Islands Costa Rica Cyprus Czech Republic Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) Democratic Republic of the Congo Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia Gabon Republic Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Honduras Hong Kong Hungary India Indonesia Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macau Macedonia Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Namibia Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Republic of Croatia Republic of the Congo Reunion Romania Rwanda Saint Helena Saint Kitts-Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and the Grenadines San Marino Saudi Arabia Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands South Africa South Korea Spain Sri Lanka Suriname Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Vatican City State Venezuela Vietnam Virgin Islands (U.