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Professor Kent is concerned with one of the major questions posed by historical research on the later Middle Ages and the Renaissance: did these periods witness the nuclearization of the aristocratic family? Considering three celebrated and representative Florentine ottimati lineages, the author reconstructs the histories and activities of scores of their households for the period circa 1420-1550. The author describes the nuclear and extended households and the acknowledgement of kinship among the men and separate households of each patrilineage. His analysis indicates that the nuclear family and the clan cannot justifiably be regarded as opposing forms of family organization, each represent...
Weaving together social, political, economic and architectural history, this book explores the role of key patrons in Siena's urban projects, including Pope Pius II Piccolomini and his family, and the quasi-despot Pandolfo Petrucci.
"Historian F.W. Kent offers a new look at Lorenzo's relationship to the arts, aesthetics, collecting, and building - especially in the context of his role as the political boss (maestro della bottega) of republican Florence and a leading player in Renaissance Italian diplomacy. Kent's approach reveals Lorenzo's activities as an art patron as far more extensive and creative than previously thought. Known as "the Magnificent," Lorenzo was broadly interested in the arts and supported efforts to beautify Florence and the many Medici lands and palaces. His expertise was well regarded by guildsmen and artists, who often turned to him for advice as well as for patronage.
Writing letters to powerful people to win their favor and garner rewards such as political office, tax relief, and recommendations was an institution in Renaissance Florence; the practice was an important tool for those seeking social mobility, security, and recognition by others. In this detailed study of political and social patronage in fifteenth-century Florence, Paul D. McLean shows that patronage was much more than a pursuit of specific rewards. It was also a pursuit of relationships and of a self defined in relation to others. To become independent in Renaissance Florence, one first had to become connected. With The Art of the Network, McLean fills a gap in sociological scholarship by...
Essays illustrate the ways Renaissance Florentines expressed or shaped their identities as they interacted with their society.