The Renaissance Bazaar: From the Silk Road to Michelangelo

264 Pages·2003·20.52 MB·English

by  Jerry Brotton

THE RENAISSANCE BAZAAR
Dr Jerry Brotton is a Lecturer in English at Royal Holloway, Uni-
versity of London. He is the author of Trading Territories: Mapping
the Early Modern World (Reaktion, London, 1997 and Cornell
University Press, 1998), and with Lisa Jardine, Global Interests:
Renaissance Art between East and West (Reaktion, London, 2000).
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THE RENAISSANCE BAZAAR
From the Silk Road to Michelangelo
WWW
Jerry Brotton
OXJORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS
This book has been printed digitally and produced in a standard specification
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CONTENTS
Preface vii
List of plates ix
List of illustrations x
Introduction i
1 A global Renaissance 33
2 The humanist script 62
3 Church and state 92
4 Putting things into perspective 124
5 Brave new worlds 154
6 Experiments, dreams, and performances 184
Timeline 221
Further reading 226
Index 229
v
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PREFACE
if there is one moment at which most people define the birth, of
modern European civilization, it is surely the period between
1400 and 1600 known as the Renaissance. The Renaissance
Bazaar argues that modern Europe emerged in this period by
competing and exchanging ideas and commodities with its east-
ern (and predominantly Islamic) neighbours. These east-west
transactions laid the bases for the great art and culture that we
now associate with the Renaissance. They also reveal that Europe
emerged in close relation rather than stark opposition to the cul-
tures and communities it has often corne to demonize and label
as underdeveloped and uncivilized.
Scholars across the humanities are already developing this
approach to the Renaissance. However, The Renaissance Bazaar is
the first book to synthesize these developments, and suggest how
an understanding of the impact of the east transforms our
understanding of the Renaissance. My own collaborative work
with Lisa Jardine, alongside the writings of scholars like Gülru
Nedpoglu, Nabil Matar, Joan Pau Rubies, Deborah Howard, and
Julian Raby, has started to reconsider the ways in which the
Renaissance looks very different when viewed from beyond the
bounds of Europe. Rather than signalling an end to the study of
the Renaissance, this book suggests that exciting discoveries still
lie ahead.
I would like to thank Matt Birchwood, Mat Dimmock, Mar-
garet Ferguson, Don and Sarah Holmes, Adam Lowe, Karin
Pibernik, Evelyn Welch, and, at Oxford, Aii Chivers for their help
and suggestions in the completion of this book. No one could
wish for a better mentor and collaborator than Lisa Jardine. She
vii
Preface
was instrumental in encouraging me to write this book, and per-
sistently prevented me from being hypnotized by the seductive
myths of the Renaissance with her characteristic verve and
ingenuity. I look forward to further collaborations and voyages of
discovery with her on an even grander scale.
This book is dedicated to my most sceptical critic, Rachel
Holmes. She has read every page, questioned every assumption,
and demanded clarity at every point. The result is a much better
book than I could have written without her, although any mis-
takes and omissions remain my own. I hope that she now agrees
with me that the Renaissance is worth the effort.
viii
LIST OF PLATES
1 Hans Holbein, the Younger, The Ambassadors, 1533, oil on
canvas, National Gallery, London.
2 Gentile Bellini (attributed), The Sultan Mehmed II, ^.1479, oil
on canvas, National Gallery, London.
3 Abraham Cresques, detail of North Africa, first two panels of
The Catalan Atlas, 1375, vellum on wood, Bibliothèque
Nationale, Paris / The Bridgeman Art Library.
4 'Aristotle and Averroës' by Girolams da Cremona, from Aris-
totle, Works, print and paint, vol. I, 1483, Venice. Pierpoint
Morgan Library, New York, PML2H94, folio 2r. / Art
Resource, New York.
5 Raphael's workshop, Donation ofConstantine, 1523-4, fresco,
north wall, Sala di Constantino, Vatican / Scala.
6 Fra Angélico, Linaiuoli Altarpiece, 1433, tempera on panel,
Museo di San Marco, Florence / Scala.
7 Costanzo da Ferrara, Seated Scribe, ^.1470-80, pen and
gouache, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston / The
Bridgeman Art Library.
8 Bihzäd, Portrait of a Painter, late i5th century, Freer Gallery of
Art, Smithsonian, Washington DC.: purchase, Fig32.28.
IX