This volume celebrates the scholarship of Alison Brown, emeritus professor in the department of history at Royal Holloway, University of London. A pre-eminent historian of the Renaissance, Professor Brown’s research has brought new perspectives not only to politics and the nature of the Florentine state, but also to the period’s intellectual and religious history and the great ferment of political thought from the humanists to Savonarola, Machiavelli, and Guicciardini. Her vibrant and original inquiries, grounded both in Florence’s archival treasures and in the rich intellectual and artistic traditions of Renaissance Italy, deftly interweave politics, culture, and ideas to yield novel and eye-opening interpretations.

The essays in this book by Professor Brown’s friends and colleagues find inspiration in the themes she has explored and in her dedication to the highest aims and most exacting standards of historical research. The contributions focus on a wide variety of topics, including politics and political thought, family life, art, philosophy, law, and humanism. In providing a portrait of Renaissance studies today as a dynamic field influenced in myriad ways by Professor Brown’s insights and methods, the volume is a tribute to the far-reaching influence of her scholarship.

Ed. Amy R. Bloch, Carolyn James, and Camilla Russell.
452 pp. + 21 colour illustrations.
$49.95. (Price includes applicable taxes.)
Shipping: $5.99 CAD to North America, $21.99 CAD to Europe, $24.99 to other international addresses; prices may vary for bulk orders.
ISBN 978-0-7727-5659-6 (softcover), ISBN 978-0-7727-5661-9
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Contents

Preface – Amy R. Bloch, Carolyn James and Camilla Russell

1. Alison Brown and Late Fifteenth-Century Florentine History: An Appreciation –
   Roslyn Pesman
2. Machiavelli’s Family and Social Background: The Enigma of Messer Bernardo’s
   Illegitimacy – Luca Boschetto
3. The 1487 Medici-Cybo Marriage and its Implications for the Medici Bank in Rome –
   Francesco Guidi-Bruscoli
4. Women’s Rights According to Lorenzo De’ Medici: The Borromei-Pazzi Dispute and
   the Lex de testamentis – Lorenzo Fabbri
5. Chancellor Angelo Marzi da San Gimignano: An Episode in Record-Keeping and the
   Rise of Medicean Autocracy in Sixteenth-Century Florence – Andrea Guidi
6. Social Control and Political Consensus in Quattrocento Florence – Fabrizio Ricciardelli
7. “Altra volta ne ragionai a lungo”: A Reinterpretation of Niccolò Machiavelli’s Cryptic
   Clause in The Prince – Jérémie Barthas
8. The Portico Frieze of the Medici Villa at Poggio a Caiano: Giovanni Pico della
   Mirandola’s Influence – Riccardo Fubini
9. A Note on the Movement of Michelangelo’s David – Amy R. Bloch
10. Breaking Conventions: Donor Portraits in Ghirlandaio’s Malatesta Altarpiece – Jonathan K. Nelson
11. The Materials of Ephemeral Sculpture in Renaissance Italy – Eckart Marchand
12. Against Peacemakers: Niccolò Machiavelli on the End of Tumults – Gabriele Pedullà
13. “Che l’amore seguiti l’interesse”: The Language of Power in Giovanfrancesco Lottini’s
    Discorso sopra le attioni del conclave – Simone Testa
14. Historia testis temporum: Cesare Ripa’s Historia between Philosophy and Allegory – Maia Wellington Gahtan
15. Feigning Ignorance: The Case of Giannozzo Manetti’s Against the Jews and the Gentiles – Stefano U. Baldassarri
16. Vincenzio Borghini’s Travelling Library – Maria Fubini Leuzzi
17. The Renaissance Comes to Bloomsbury: Studies in the Italian Renaissance in
    Twentieth-Century London – Camilla Russell
18. Alison Brown’s Florentine Revolution – John M. Najemy