Florence: A Portrait | 
 enlarge | Author: Michael Levey
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Category: Book
List Price: $22.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 98790
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 528
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.6
Dimensions (in): 9.6 x 7.4 x 1.2
ISBN: 0674306589
Dewey Decimal Number: 945.51
EAN: 9780674306585
ASIN: 0674306589
Publication Date: November 15, 1998
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com Review
The usual tourist group's stay in Florence begins with the Duomo, runs through the paintings in the Uffizi, includes a visit to Michaelangelo's "David" and ends with a parade through a handful of churches. But the visitor who first reads Sir Michael Levey's portrait of the city will find rewards off that well-worn track. The city, a self-styled "new Athens" supported a wealth of artists, sculptors, humanists, and scholars, not to mention more than its share of wealthy individuals, who taken together, helped turn Florence into one of the world's great provincial outposts. Layering telling details, little-known facts and carefully explained social and intellectual history, Levey weaves a dense tale of this charming city, from the Middle Ages to the Quattrocento, through the Renaissance and on up to the early years of this century.
Product Description
Nestled in the Apennines, cradle of the Renaissance, home of Dante, Michelangelo, and the Medici, Florence is unlike any other city in its extraordinary mingling of great art and literature, natural splendor, and remarkable history. Intimate and grand, learned and engaging, Michael Levey's Florence renders the city in all of its madness and magnificence.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 Great resource April 24, 2008
This was a required book for my study abroad which I took in Italy. This was a great book, although it is quite extensive, so with that it might be better used for a more in depth study then a simple read.
The book provided a great resource for papers (yes plural) on many aspects of Florence and it really does make a great portrait of Florence. It's a great city and a great book!
 Massive, illuminating scholarship - an eye opener January 16, 2008
Having read Michael Levey's From Giotto to Cezanne and A History of Western Art, I approached Florence - A Portrait thinking I knew what to expect. I did find the attention to detail, the keen critical evaluation and aesthetics that I expected. I did not envisage the book would turn out also to be quite the gargantuan work of scholarship and erudition that it is. Florence - A Portrait is much more than a history of art in the city state. It is almost a biography of the place, replete with historical, economic and political detail. What is missing, of course, is a picture of Florentine life from the point of view of the ordinary citizen, but we cannot criticize Michael Levey for not including what probably does not exist.
I visited Florence thirty years ago and have never returned. At the time, memories of Kenneth Clark's Civilisation were very clear in my mind and I focused on renaissance Florence, almost to the derision of the rest. Even after such time I found my memories of the architecture, paintings and sculptures were still fresh, however, when I read Michael Levey's descriptions. But his descriptions do more than merely list a presence or critique a style. He offers context, critical evaluation, origins and influences when he considers these - and any - works of art. He identifies flattery or criticism, idolatry or satire where an untutored eye would see only colours and shapes.
The book is presented chronologically. It walks us through the early years of the renaissance and deals with the extent of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in minute detail. Then, as a more anonymous baroque era dawns, the account speeds up somewhat.
Michael Levey also makes crucial and important points about the nature of Florentine government in this later era, an era that is so often dismissed as decadent when compared to the golden age that preceded it. The account is comprehensive, detailed and illuminating, but is written in a lively style which is never dull. It's a book that would be more interesting after a visit than before and would not work as a guide book on grounds of size and weight! But it is a truly rewarding read.
It is noteworthy in its treatment of the baroque era. Most visitors to Florence are there for the renaissance, and this later work is often dismissed as over-ornate, opulence for opulence sake, over-stated, crass bad taste. Michael Levey corrects this view by evaluating this later period in the context of and as a development of its precursor. While reading his account, I was interested to learn just how much those who commissioned works simply wanted to make a grandiloquent statement about wealth and power. So Damien Hearst's skull is conceptually right within the tradition of Western art. Michael Level, incidentally, also pointed out that late medieval and early renaissance artists were often pressured into using greater quantities of gold leaf to endow as much value as possible to their work. There is, after all, very little that's new under this sun.
Massive scholarship, fascinating insight January 15, 2008
Having read Michael Levey's From Giotto to Cezanne and A History of Western Art, I approached Florence - A Portrait thinking I knew what to expect. I did find the attention to detail, the keen critical evaluation and aesthetics that I expected. I did not envisage the book would turn out also to be quite the gargantuan work of scholarship and erudition that it is. Florence - A Portrait is much more than a history of art in the city state. It is almost a biography of the place, replete with historical, economic and political detail. What is missing, of course, is a picture of Florentine life from the point of view of the ordinary citizen, but we cannot criticize Michael Levey for not including what probably does not exist.
I visited Florence thirty years ago and have never returned. At the time, memories of Kenneth Clark's Civilisation were very clear in my mind and I focused on renaissance Florence, almost to the derision of the rest. Even after such time I found my memories of the architecture, paintings and sculptures were still fresh, however, when I read Michael Levey's descriptions. But his descriptions do more than merely list a presence or critique a style. He offers context, critical evaluation, origins and influences when he considers these - and any - works of art. He identifies flattery or criticism, idolatry or satire where an untutored eye would see only colours and shapes.
The book is presented chronologically. It walks us through the early years of the renaissance and deals with the extent of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in minute detail. Then, as a more anonymous baroque era dawns, the account speeds up somewhat.
Michael Levey also makes crucial and important points about the nature of Florentine government in this later era, an era that is so often dismissed as decadent when compared to the golden age that preceded it. The account is comprehensive, detailed and illuminating, but is written in a lively style which is never dull. It's a book that would be more interesting after a visit than before and would not work as a guide book on grounds of size and weight! But it is a truly rewarding read.
It is noteworthy in its treatment of the baroque era. Most visitors to Florence are there for the renaissance, and this later work is often dismissed as over-ornate, opulence for opulence sake, over-stated, crass bad taste. Michael Levey corrects this view by evaluating this later period in the context of and as a development of its precursor. While reading his account, I was interested to learn just how much those who commissioned works simply wanted to make a grandiloquent statement about wealth and power. So Damien Hearst's skull is conceptually right within the tradition of Western art. Michael Level, incidentally, also pointed out that late medieval and early renaissance artists were often pressured into using greater quantities of gold leaf to endow as much value as possible to their work. There is, after all, very little that's new under this sun.
A Fascinating Journey November 3, 2006
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
It is as though we are moving through the streets of Florence with Mr. Levey at our side telling us fascinating stories about the people and places of the city by the Arno. Anyone with an interest in Florence will find this volume a wonderful companion to the larger histories and art books. We are the beneficiaries of the author's lifetime of experience and understanding in the matters of the Renaissance and its center, Florence. Highly recommended.
Well written and challenging July 19, 2006
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
The book is wonderfully written, but reading it presents the same challenges as following a university lecture on the subject. Mr. Levey does not dumb down his subject or choose words he thinks most people will understand. You must keep up with him, and it would be helpful to keep handy a dictionary and a book on art history (or at least be near the internet).
This is a fascinating and insightful work, but not one you'll want to read a couple of pages of while your spouse watches Letterman before bed. You'll want to be paying strict attention as you read. If you do so, you'll find yourself well prepared for a visit to this amazing city. Rather than questioning your tour guide, you may well be able to teach her a thing or two on the subject.
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