This Beginner’s Guide draws primarily on my experience as a teacher of Renaissance art at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland. Few of my students have studied much art history when they arrive at the University (it is little taught in British schools), let alone the Renaissance. But a good number of them have already experienced something of the excitement of Renaissance art on their visits to galleries and exhibitions or on foreign holidays. Readers of this introductory book may be in a similar position. They have visited Italy, perhaps, spending time in major artistic centres such as Florence, Rome, or Venice. They may have come away with vivid impressions of the Renaissance works they have seen. Or again, they may not have yet had the chance to see such famous works ‘in the flesh’, but are keen to get to grips with this key period in art history before making their pilgrimage. Other readers may already have a well developed interest in art, but know more about works from more recent periods, such as Impressionism or contemporary art. Some may have only just decided that art is of any interest to them at all.
This book has been written with this wide mixture of possible readers in mind. It aims to provide a new and accessible introduction to a famous and much written-about period of art, which still possesses a certain aura of quality and value (monetary as well as artistic!). I have tried to keep things relatively simple and have provided a short glossary of ‘specialist’ terms, which are indicated in the text by italics. A full list of all the works discussed, with their dates and present locations, is also included, as is a map of the cities and towns from which my examples come, and a list of books for further reading about these particular works. A basic bibliography of the key works on the Renaissance is also included so that the interested reader can gain a fuller understanding of the topic. My book is based on the close discussion or ‘reading’ of a small number of examples of Renaissance art (all of which are illustrated). Through close attention to these key examples, the reader will build a rich understanding of the central characteristics of a Renaissance work, and of the surrounding conditions that led to its creation.
Certain of the decisions that I have made in preparing this book need to be noted here, without making too many apologies. They have primarily been dictated by considerations of space: that is, by the need to make this a book of manageable size and scope, while also maintaining an interesting level of detail in the discussion. Renaissance architecture is not covered; and my examples date from the period roughly between 1400 and 1565. As far as architecture is concerned, this seems to me to be a vast subject in its own right, worthy of a whole other study, though it is certainly one closely related to the progress of the other arts in the Renaissance. As for the dates, arguments will long continue about when, exactly, the Renaissance started and ended, with many preferring dates of 1300–1600. But in my view its most salient features, and its best examples, only really appear in the period I cover.
Though I have been careful to give a sense of the wide geographical scope of Renaissance art, certain countries, such as France and Spain, are discussed only in passing, or in relation to works imported to them. But while these countries may have produced Renaissance works, these were, in my view, largely dependent on the more powerful examples from elsewhere discussed in the book. I must confess that my choices also reflect personal preferences. But my hope is that the decisions I have made have not weakened the account, allowing it something of the texture and fibre that grow out of real enthusiasm. I would like to thank my family, friends, and colleagues for their help and understanding during the course of the project.