Art and Violence in Early Renaissance Florence

Thisstudyisthefirsttoexaminetherelationshipbetweenartandviolencein15th-centuryFlorence,exposingtheunderbellyofaperiodmoreoftencelebratedforenlightenedandprogressiveideas.RenaissanceFlorentineswereconstantlysubjectedtothesightofviolence,whetherincarefullystagedritualsofexecutionorimagesofthesufferinginflictedonChrist.Therewasnothingnewinthiscultureofpain,unliketheaestheticofviolencethatdevelopedtowardstheendofthe15thcentury.ItemergedintheworkofartistssuchasPierodiCosimo,BertoldodiGiovanni,AntoniodelPollaiuolo,andtheyoungMichelangelo.Inspiredbytheartofantiquity,theypainted,engraved,andsculptedimagesofdeadlybattles,ultimatelynormalizingrepresentationsofbrutalviolence.Drawingonworkinsocialandliteraryhistory,aswellasarthistory,ScottNethersoleshedslightontherelationshipbetweentheseRenaissanceimages,violence,andideasofartisticinventionandauthorship.