The Florentine Enlightenment 1400-1450 - George Holmes

This is a study of the revolutionary development in art and thought which took place in early fifteenth-century Florence. A new approach to political philosophy, history, art, and architecture was inspired by the teaching and writings of a group of humanist thinkers, and paved the way for the great achievements of the later Renaissance.;George 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.;Professor 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 provides a fascinating preview of the greatest movement in the cultural history of Europe: the Renaissance.;This book is intended for scholars and students of medieval European history; especially fifteenth-century cultural and art historians; historians of the Renaissance; historians of Florence.