Suggested Reading and Media Resources

• Earle, T. F., and K. J. P. Lowe, eds. Black Africans in Renaissance Europe. 2005. Includes essays discussing many aspects of ideas about race and the experience of Africans in Europe.

• Eisenstein, Elizabeth. The Printing Press as an Agent of Change: Communications and Cultural Transformations in Early Modern Europe. 1979. The definitive study of the impact of printing.

• Ertman, Thomas. The Birth of Leviathan: Building States and Regimes in Medieval and Early Modern Europe. 1997. A good introduction to the creation of nation-states.

• Hartt, Frederick, and David Wilkins. History of Italian Renaissance Art, 7th ed. 2010. A comprehensive survey of painting, sculpture, and architecture in Italy.

• Jardine, Lisa. Worldly Goods: A New History of the Renaissance. 1998. Discusses changing notions of social status, artistic patronage, and consumer goods.

• Johnson, Geraldine. Renaissance Art: A Very Short Introduction. 2005. An excellent brief survey that includes male and female artists, and sets the art in its cultural and historical context.

• King, Ross. Machiavelli: Philosopher of Power. 2006. A brief biography that explores Machiavelli’s thought in its social and political context.

• Man, John. Gutenberg Revolution: The Story of a Genius and an Invention That Changed the World. 2002. Presents a rather idealized view of Gutenberg, but has good discussions of his milieu and excellent illustrations.

• Najemy, John M. A History of Florence, 1200–1575. 2008. A comprehensive survey of cultural, political, and social developments, based on the newest research.

• Nauert, Charles. Humanism and the Culture of Renaissance Europe, 2d ed. 2006. A thorough introduction to humanism throughout Europe.

• Rummel, Erica. Desiderius Erasmus. 2006. An excellent short introduction to Erasmus as a scholar and Christian thinker.

• Waley, Daniel, and Trevor Dean. The Italian City States, 4th ed. 2004. Analyzes the rise of independent city-states in northern Italy, including discussion of the artistic and social lives of their inhabitants.

• Wiesner-Hanks, Merry E. Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe, 3d ed. 2008. Discusses all aspects of women’s lives and ideas about gender.

• Leonardo da Vinci (BBC, 2004). A three-part documentary telling the life story of Leonardo as an artist, inventor, and engineer. Features tests of his designs for the parachute, tank, diving suit, and glider, and an investigation of the Mona Lisa.

• The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance (PBS, 2004). A four-part documentary examining the power and patronage of the Medici family, shot on location, with extensive coverage of art and architecture.

• The Agony and the Ecstasy (Carol Reed, 1965). A classic film highlighting the conflict between Michelangelo and Pope Julius II over the painting of the Sistine Chapel, with Charlton Heston as the artist and Rex Harrison as the pope.

• The Borgias (Showtime, 2011). A fictionalized docudrama of the rise of the Borgia family to power in the church and in Italy, with Jeremy Irons as Pope Alexander VI.

• Dangerous Beauty (Marshall Herskovitz, 1998). A biographical drama about the life of Veronica Franco, a well-educated courtesan in sixteenth-century Venice, based on the biography of Franco written by Margaret Rosenthal.

• Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. A chronological, geographical, and thematic exploration of the history of art from around the world, run by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Includes numerous special topics sections on nearly every aspect of Renaissance art, and also on book production, musical instruments, clothing, household furnishings, and political and economic developments. www.metmuseum.org/toah/

• Medici Archive Project. A database for researching the nearly three million letters held by the archives on the Medici Grand Dukes of Tuscany, who ruled Florence from 1537 to 1743. Includes topical “document highlights” in English and Italian, accompanied by illustrations. www.medici.org/