The Badia of Florence

View Larger

The Badia of Florence

Art and Observance in a Renaissance Monastery

Anne Leader

Distribution: World

Publication date: 12/9/2011

Format: cloth 340 pages, 205 color illus.
11 x 8.5

ISBN: 978-0-253-35567-6

cloth

$65.00

Add to Wish List

Media Review Request

Description

Santa Maria di Firenze, an ancient, venerable Benedictine abbey (called the Badia) located in the heart of Florence, is the subject of Anne Leader’s new book. In 1418, 17 Benedictine monks journeyed to Florence from Padua to save one of their order's oldest houses from ruin. Realizing that reformed spiritual practice alone would not save the Badia, Abbott Gomezio di Giovanni commissioned the creation of a new cloister, to be decorated with vivid and engaging frescoes designed to motivate its residents. Leader’s richly illustrated, interdisciplinary study examines the Badia during this crucial period of reform and rebirth. It reveals the renovated Badia as integral to the spiritual, political, and social life of early Renaissance Florence, as well as to the broader program of expanding Benedictine Observance throughout Italy.

Author Bio

Anne Leader is Professor of Art History at the Savannah College of Art and Design.

Reviews

"This meticulously researched, well-documented book is thoughtfully conceived and extremely well illustrated, and it contains an ample scholarly apparatus. It immediately becomes a standard source for the monastery's rich history. . . . Highly recommended." —Choice

"The most comprehensive and holistic approach to the important, yet much neglected, Florentine monastery ever undertaken." —Adelheid M. Gealt, Indiana University Bloomington

"This in-depth look at one of the key monuments of early Renaissance Florence illuminates the centrality of architectural space and visual imagery to monastic reform programs. Leader skillfully shows how the Badia’s spatial design and fresco cycle illustrating the life of St. Benedict helped to revitalize spiritual ideals at the oldest, richest monastery in early Quattrocento Florence. In reconstructing the Badia’s complex history, she sheds new light on Renaissance patronage patterns, artistic practice, and the development of Tuscan narrative painting. Packed with exquisite photographs and new architectural drawings, this book is a real feast for the eyes." —Sharon Strocchia, author of Nuns and Nunneries in Renaissance Florence

"[A] splendid and beautifully-written book . . ." —Caroline Bruzelius, author of The Stones of Naples: Church Building in the Angevin Kingdom, 1266-1343

"Historians of Italian Renaissance religion, art, and architecture will . . . be gratified to find in Anne Leader’s authoritative monograph a thoroughly researched and closely analyzed account of the Badia’s monastic history, building chronology, and artistic prrograms, focusing on the first half of the Quattrocento. . . . At a time when academic presses are limiting the number of images they publish or they are avoiding art historical projects altogether, this lavishly illustrated book is a feast for the eyes." —RENAISSANCE QUARTERLY

"Anne Leader, Professor of Art History at the Savannah College of Art and Design, has produced an elegant and important book on the Benedictine Abbey in Florence known as the Badia." —The Medieval Review

"[An] excellently researched and enlightening book." —Catholic Historical Review

Customer Reviews

Comments
There are currently no reviews
Write a review on this title.

Acknowledgments

Introduction
1. The Development of an Urban Monastery
2. Benedictine Decadence and the Path to Reform
3. Badia Patronage and the Paradox of Autonomy
4. Architectural Design as Monastic Reform
5. Icon, Symbol, and Narrative at the Florentine Badia
6. The Badia Painters
Epilogue: The Badia from the Renaissance to Today

Notes
Bibliography
Index