Author Description

An expansive new study that explores the wide breadth of Italian painting in the fifteenth century Painting in Fifteenth-Century Italy: This Splendid and Noble Art is a transformational study that introduces groundbreaking approaches and discoveries. Challenging the traditional focus on Venice, Florence, and Rome, the lively narrative traverses the peninsula from north to south and culminates in the global ports of Naples and Sicily. It reappraises the careers and collaborations of painters, some little-known today. With greater frequency than previously imagined, these masters traveled widely to seek professional opportunities and expand their artistic horizons. Through such journeys, they engaged with local visual culture as well as the art of antiquity, Byzantium, Spain, and northern Europe. New findings by conservators elucidate the varied techniques, precious materials, and brilliant colors of the works. With nearly 200 colour illustrations, some specially commissioned, Painting in Fifteenth-Century Italy reveals the richness, invention, and dynamic crosscurrents of the century's art.