ART 235: Pre-Modern Art History

An extensive chronology of the artist's life and important historical events of his era as well as a compilation of remarks by famous historians, modern and old, add cultural perspective and insight into each painter's stylistic development. A visual chart with captions as to the whereabouts of each painting and a concise bibliography with suggested further reading provide invaluable research tools. With authoritative text by leading art historians from around the globe, these lavishly illustrated editions provide fresh insights into the art and lives of the most brilliant artists in the history of painting.

Sandro Botticelli was one of the leading painters of the Florentine Renaissance who developed a highly personal style characterized by elegant execution, sense of melancholy and strong emphasis on line. This monograph presents a selection of Botticelli's paintings and drawings, including extraordinary masterpieces such as the Mystic Nativity, St. Augustine in his Studio, Pallade and the Centaur, Annunciation and Madonna and Child, as well as a selection of works by other Renaissance painters like Leonardo da Vinci, Piero di Cosimo, Filippo and Filippino Lippi.

Julia Miller and Laurie Taylor-Mitchell explore the three-hundred-year rise and fall of the Humiliati ("Humbled Ones"), a religious order infamous for its attempt to assassinate Saint Carlo Borromeo and ultimately suppressed, by papal bull, in 1571. This book focuses on the order's artistic patronage and considers the major works by artists such as Giotto, Donatello, Botticelli, and Ghirlandaio that the Humiliati commissioned for the Church of the Ognissanti in Florence. Miller and Taylor-Mitchell reveal how the Humiliati promoted their public image through the visual arts and examine the themes and ideas in these works.