Andrew Ladis is Franklin Professor of Art History at the University of Georgia. Over the course of the last twenty years he has written extensively on Italian art. In addition to books on Taddeo Gaddi and on the Brancacci Chapel, he has made notable contributions to the study of early Italian painting and sculpture with essays on such figures as Giovanni Pisano, Giotto, Jacopo del Casentino, Ambrogio Lorenzetti, and Niccolo di Tommaso. But the range of his interests, made apparent by this collection, extends far beyond fourteenth-century Florence and Siena to encompass Tuscan painting of the fifteenth century, Renaissance maiolica, the writings of Giorgio Vasari, biography, and modern historiography. Further, the assembled essays and book reviews embrace a wide array of art historical problems, such as connoisseurship, patronage, workshop procedure, and the relationship between form and meaning. Of particular note is a major interpretive essay on one of the key monuments of the Renaissance, the mural decoration of the Brancacci Chapel painted by Masaccio, Masolino, and Filippino Lippi. Appearing here in revised form, this study is newly accompanied by a copious number of illustrations, including some never before published.

A look into the tantalising secrets of Florence's Palazzo Rucellai. When Italian Renaissance professor Allison Levy takes up residency in the palazzo of her dreams – the Palazzo Rucellai in Florence – she finds herself consumed by the space and swept into the vortex of its history. She spends every waking moment in dusty Florentine libraries, exploring the palazzo's myriad rooms seeking to uncover its secrets. As she unearths the stories of those who have lived behind its celebrated façade, she discovers that it has been witness to weddings, suicides, orgies, the dissection of a 'monster', and even a murder. Entwining Levy's own experiences with the ghosts of the Palazzo Rucellai's past, House of Secrets paints a scintillating portrait of a family, a palace and one of the most iconic cities in the world.

This compelling novel takes the reader into the tumultuous period of the Renaissance and the origins of Leonardo da Vinci, the bastard child of a notary. Of da Vinci, the eminent art historian Kenneth Clark wrote, “no more complex and mysterious character ever existed than this Hamlet of art history.” Clark noted that one had to be “familiar with all of Leonardo’s writings in their chronological order (and) the state of learning in the Renaissance to judge Leonardo’s progress in relation to that of his contemporaries.”This compelling novel takes the reader into the tumultuous period of the Renaissance and the origins of Leonardo da Vinci, the bastard child of a notary. Of da Vinci, the eminent art historian Kenneth Clark wrote, “no more complex and mysterious character ever existed than this Hamlet of art history.” Clark noted that one had to be “familiar with all of Leonardo’s writings in their chronological order (and) the state of learning in the Renaissance to judge Leonardo’s progress in relation to that of his contemporaries.”

The art of the Renaissance is usually the most familiar to non-specialists, and for good reason. This was the era that produced some of the icons of civilization, including Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and Last Supper and Michelangelo’s Sistine Ceiling, Pietà, and David. Marked as one of the greatest moments in history, the outburst of creativity of the era resulted in the most influential artistic revolution ever to have taken place. The period produced a substantial number of notable masters, among them Donatello, Filippo Brunelleschi, Masaccio, Sandro Botticelli, Raphael, Titian, and Tintoretto. This second edition of Historical Dictionary of Renaissance Art contains a chronology, an introduction, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 700 cross-referenced entries on artists from Italy, Flanders, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, and Portugal, historical figures and events that impacted the production of Renaissance art. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about the Renaissance art.