This volume represents a long overdue reassessment of the Neapolitan painter Paolo de Matteis, an artist largely overlooked in English language scholarly publications, but one who merits our attention for the quality of his work and the originality of its iconography, as well as for his remarkable ability to respond creatively to his patrons? aesthetic ideals and agendas. Following a meticulous examination of the ways in which posterity?s impression of de Matteis has been conditioned by a biased biographical and literary tradition, Livio Pestilli devotes rich, detailed analyses to the artist?s most significant paintings and drawings. More than just a novel approach to de Matteis and the Neapolitan Baroque, however, the book makes a significant contribution to the study and understanding of early eighteenth-century European art and cultural history in general, not only in Naples but in other major European centers, including Paris, Vienna, Genoa, and Rome.

"This book provides a survey of European painting between 1260 and 1510, in both northern and southern Europe, based largely on the National Gallery collection ... some 70 of the finest and best known paintings in the Gallery are examined in detail"--Cover.

INTRODUCTION: Lanfranco's Camerino degli Eremiti; 1. Architecture, Decoration and Typology of the Palazzetto Farnese: Camerino and Palazzetto: a reconstruction; Decoration of the Palazzetto; The giardino segreto as 'theatre of nature'; The tradition of studioli; Pliny's diaeta and its Cinquecento imitations; Studiolo, garden, and the genre of landscape-painting; The typology of the Palazzetto Farnese; Camerino and Palazzetto - decorative or functional relations?; 2. THE CARDINAL'S RETREAT: Palazzo Farnese at Caprarola; The Stanza della Solitudine; The Stanza della Penitenza; Rome: the Casa Professa-apartment; Iconography of the Cappellina Farnese; Ignatius' exemplarity; Jesuit devotional retreats; Caprarola: the Palazzina Farnese; Grottaferrata: the Palazzo Abbaziale; Camaldoli; 3. PATRONAGE, PROTECTORATE AND REGULAR REFORMS: Orazione e Morte; The Arciconfraternita and its cardinal protectors; The Quarant'Ore and the Camerino; Sixteenth-century concepts of protectorate; Impending abolition and renewal of the protectorate in 1606; Between regular reform and curial changes; Odoardo Farnese's protectorates; Discalced Carmelites and the mission; The Camerino's Eucharistic message; Saints, protectorates and paintings; 4. GARDENS FOR THE SOUL: Cardinals retreating: Sfondrato, Borromeo and Bellarmino; Bellarmino's urban retreat; Funeral monuments as models of devotion; Bellarmino's 'Ladder of Nature'; The garden of Sant'Andrea al Quirinale; Spiritual Paintings of the Universe; Scenes of martyrdom in San Vitale; Functions of the Sant'Andrea complex; Christian Doctrine and the argument of nature; Pilgrimage and the real world; Missionary theory and natural philosophy; Allegorical gardens in Seicento Rome; The Palazzetto as metaphorical Scala; 6. THE IMAGINARY, THE REAL AND THE EXEMPLARY HERMITAGE: Images of hermits; Cinquecento realities of solitary life; The case of Fra Pelagio; De-historicising the hermit; Itinerant hermits in and around Rome; Sant'Onofrio: the monk redressing as hermit; Ephemeral landscapes and theatrical hermits; Giacinto da Casale in Piacenza; Casale's grotto and the Camerino degli Eremiti.

Providing a reassessment of Benozzo Gozzoli, one of the most esteemed and prolific artists of the Renaissance, this work focuses on the social and cultural context within which he worked. The book provides stylistic and technical discussions of each of his major works.

The Santa Maria di Firenze, the venerable Benedictine abbey located in the heart of Florence, is the subject of this book. Leader's richly illustrated, interdisciplinary study examines the abbey's history during the Renaissance.