The intellectual education of the Italian Renaissance artist

Scholars have traditionally viewed the Italian Renaissance artist as a gifted, but poorly educated craftsman whose complex and demanding works were created with the assistance of a more educated advisor. These assumptions are, in part, based on research that has focused primarily on the artist's social rank and workshop training. In this volume, Angela Dressen explores the range of educational opportunities that were available to the Italian Renaissance artist. Considering artistic formation within the history of education, Dressen focuses on the training of highly skilled, average artists, revealing a general level of learning that was much more substantial than has been assumed. She emphasizes the role of mediators who had a particular interest in augmenting artists' knowledge, and highlights how artists used Latin and vernacular texts to gain additional knowledge that they avidly sought. Dressen's volume brings new insights into a topic at the intersection of early modern intellectual, educational, and art history.ISBN : 9781108831321 Cover Half-title Title page Copyright information Contents List of Illustrations Preface Introduction Content and Method Knowledge Periodization versus Style Epoch Artifex - Artista - Literato The Artist's Advisor versus the Learned Artist Mediators One Mechanical Arts versus Liberal Arts and Recommendations for the Artist's Education The Original Form of Paragone: A Competition among the Artes Laying the Grounds for Categories and Theory at the Beginning of Art History (the Paragone Debate) Recommendations on the Artist's Education by Literati and Artists Drawing within a Liberal Arts Education The Situation of the Artes and the Artist's Learning Two Educational Places and Opportunities Institutional Education for the Artist From Medieval Artistic Education toward Universities and Academies for the Visual Arts Academies for Artists Public and Private Education in the Renaissance and Its Relevance for the Artist The Demand for Public Education Following the Ancient Model Elementary Schools Latin Grammar Schools Abacus Schools Private Schools Poor Students Oral Apprenticeship for the Artist: Private and Public Teaching Literary Academies Providing Intellectual Education for the Artist Three The Mediating Texts The Question of Language: Vernacular versus Latin Commentaries Key Early Renaissance Mediating Texts Dante Alighieri's Convivio Cristoforo Landino's Commentary on Dante's Divine Comedy Religious Literature for Popular Use Literature from the Vernacular Curriculum Vite dei Santi Padri Fior di virtu Ancient and Medieval Literature from the Beginner's Latin Grammar Curriculum Auctores: Aesopus and Theodolus Physiologus Classical Literature from the Intermediary and Advanced Curriculum Ovid Vergil Lucan Apuleius Lucretius Levels of Learning Weaving Mediating Texts into Allegories: Botticelli's Primavera and Contemporary Commentaries Landino, Ficino, and Marsi as Mediators for Dante, Plato, Ovid, and Horace The Relevance of Renaissance Commentaries and Vernacular Interpretations for the Renaissance Artist Four Vitruvius and Pliny as Sourcebooks, Educational Landmarks, and Intellectual Challenge Pliny as the Ancient Sourcebook The Artist as Reader, Translator, and Commentator on Vitruvius Conclusion Education and Society Allegories, Mythologies, Commentaries Knowledge Periodization versus Style Epoch? Appendix A Printed Editions as Editio Princeps and Shortly after, Divided by Editions, Translations, and Commentaries Ancient Texts in Early Latin Editions Ancient Texts in Early Vernacular Editions Commentaries Appendix B Oral Lessons in Private and Public Environments Selected Bibliography Primary Sources Secondary Sources Index "Scholars have traditionally viewed the Italian Renaissance artist as a gifted but poorly educated craftsman whose complex and demanding works were created with the assistance of a more educated advisor. These assumptions are, in part, based on research that has focused primarily on the artist's social rank and workshop training. In this volume, Angela Dressen explores the range of educational opportunities that were available to the Italian Renaissance artist. Considering artistic formation within the history of education, Dressen focuses on the training of highly skilled, average artists, revealing a general level of learning that was much more substantial than has been assumed. She emphasizes the role of mediators who had a particular interest in augmenting artists' knowledge, and highlights how artists used Latin and vernacular texts to gain additional knowledge that they avidly sought. Dressen's volume brings new insights into a topic at the intersection of early modern intellectual, educational and art history. Angela Dressen is the Andrew W. Mellon Librarian at I Tatti - The Harvard University Center for Renaissance Studies in Florence, Italy, and faculty member at the University of Dresden. She is the author of Pavimenti decorati del Quattrocento in Italia and The Library of the Badia Fiesolana: Intellectual History and Education under the Medici"-- Provided by publisher This book provides an overview of the history of education in the Renaissance, looks where the artist fits into it, and provides specific examples for artists and texts they used. It will appeal to scholars and advanced students of early modern Italian art, intellectual, cultural ,and social history.