Publisher's Synopsis
In this wide-ranging reassessment of Renaissance art, Jerry Brotton and Lisa Jardine examine the ways in which European culture came to define itself culturally and aesthetically in the years 1450 to 1550. Looking outwards for confirmation of who they were and of what defined them as "civilized", Europeans encountered the returning gaze of what we now call the east, in particular the powerful Ottoman Empire of Mehmed the Conqueror and Suleyman the Magnificent.;This book offers accounts of three often neglected art objects: portrait medals, tapestries, and equestrian art, and the authors provide new responses to some of the most iconic paintings of the period, including the work of Pisanello, Leonardo, Durer, Holbein and Titian. It also offers a timely reassessment of the development of European imperialism, focusing on the Habsburg Empire of Charles V, and concludes with a consideration of the impact this history continues to have upon contemporary perceptions of European culture and ethnic identity.
