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In this paradigm shifting study, developed through close textual readings and sensitive analysis of artworks, Clare Lapraik Guest re-evaluates the central role of ornament in pre-modern art and literature. Moving from art and thought in antiquity to the Italian Renaissance, she examines the understandings of ornament arising from the Platonic, Aristotelian and Sophistic traditions, and the tensions which emerged from these varied meanings. The book views the Renaissance as a decisive point in the story of ornament, when its subsequent identification with style and historicism are established. It asserts ornament as a fundamental, not an accessory element in art and presents its restoration to theoretical dignity as essential to historical scholarship and aesthetic reflection.

This glorious gallery of stunning architectural accents from Italy's Middle Ages has been assembled from a rare, early-twentieth-century publication: • Grotesques from carved panels of choir stalls • Breathtaking tombstone and ceiling ornaments • Sumptuous stone balcony panels ... and much more, all reproduced in sixty richly detailed illustrations. Designers and artists of every variety will revel in this modestly priced treasury of authentic Renaissance style.

This gallery of stunning architectural accents from Italy's Middle Ages has been assembled from a rare early-20th-century publication. Grotesques from carved panels of choir stalls, tombstone and ceiling ornaments, pierced stone balcony panels, and more, are reproduced in 60 richly detailed illustrations. A modestly priced treasury of authentic Renaissance style.

From Italian textiles featuring Islamic and Asian motifs to ceramics and glassware that reflected Syrian techniques and ornamental concepts, this book gives an extraordinary view of the influence of imported Oriental goods in Italy over three crucial centuries of artistic development, from 1300 to 1600.".

Original essays by leading scholars on the significance of accessories in the cultural, social, and political lives of men and women in the Renaissance

Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.