Venus and the Arts of Love in Renaissance Florence

In this volume, Rebekah Compton offers the first survey of Venus in the art, culture, and governance of Florence from 1300 to 1600. Organized chronologically, each of the six chapters investigates one of the goddess's alluring attributes - her golden splendor, rosy-hued complexion, enchanting fashions, green gardens, erotic anatomy, and gifts from the sea. By examining these attributes in the context of the visual arts, Compton uncovers an array of materials and techniques employed by artists, patrons, rulers, and lovers to manifest Venusian virtues. Her book explores technical art history in the context of love's protean iconography, showing how different discourses and disciplines can interact in the creation and reception of art. Venus and the Arts of Love in Renaissance Florence offers new insights on sight, seduction, and desire, as well as concepts of gender, sexuality, and viewership from both male and female perspectives in the early modern era.ISBN : 9781108842914 Cover Half-title Title page Copyright information Dedication Contents List of Figures Acknowledgments Introduction: Sweet Persuasions Framing Venus Venus in Fourteenth-Century Florence Book Organization Notes One Golden Splendor: Visions of Venus A Golden Mirage Scintillating Rays Bright Visions Notes Two Cultivating Complexions: Cleaning and Coloring the Flesh Generating and Cultivating Flesh Painting Flesh Reproducing Flesh Notes Three Sartorial Seduction: Silk, Embroidery, and Venusian Magic Location and Patronage Astral Magic A White Dress: Incandescent Transparency Gold Embroidery: The Cestus and Its Charms Rose Brocade: Luxurious Love Notes Four Green Gardens: Venus' Verdant Virtues Visual Poetics Sensorial Medicine Green Places Green Geography Botticelli's Verdant Techniques Savonarola's Winter Notes Five Erotic Anatomy: Fantasy, Sex, and Disease The Prick of Desire The Passions of Love Sex and the Satyr Notes Six Maritime Treasures: Venus' Gifts from the Sea The Villa of Castello Notes Conclusion: Attendant Pleasures Notes Bibliography Primary Sources Secondary Sources Index "In this volume, Rebekah Compton offers the first survey of Venus in the art, culture, and governance of Florence from 1300 to 1600. Organized chronologically, each of the six chapters investigates one of the goddess's alluring attributes - her golden splendor, rosy-hued complexion, enchanting fashions, green gardens, erotic anatomy, and gifts from the sea. By examining these attributes in the context of the visual arts, Compton uncovers an array of materials and techniques employed by artists, patrons, rulers, and lovers to manifest Venusian virtues. Her book explores technical art history in the context of love's protean iconography, showing how different discourses and disciplines can interact in the creation and reception of art. Venus and the Arts of Love offers new insights on sight, seduction, and desire, as well as concepts of gender, sexuality, and viewership from both male and female perspectives in the early modern era."-- Provided by publisher