Images and Identity in Fifteenth-Century Florence (review)

Patricia Lee Rubin seeks to explore the interrelationship between fifteenth-century Florentine society and its various institutions to the form, style, and subject of the art with which they surrounded themselves. Rubin begins in her forward by citing Benedetto Varchi (d. 1565), who, in book 9 of his History of Florence, digressed from his discourse on political events to describe contemporary social practices. Varchi's digressions form the foundation upon which Rubin builds her book. As Rubin notes, to attempt to recover commonplace customs is difficult. Thus, she has searched far and wide for material to support her topic. If ever a book was cross-disciplinary, hers is.

Rubin divides her book into three parts. Part 1, "Moral Imperatives and Material Considerations," has three chapters that address the ways patrons use art to define or confirm their identity and position in Florentine society and what the expectations of that society were. The second part, "The Eye and the Beholder," contains two chapters that reverse the approach in part 1 to how the viewer sees and values the images. Fame, friendship, and various obligations, monetary and otherwise, for example, could affect the significance the object held for the viewer and owner. Part 3, "Seeing and Being," contains two chapters. Chapter 6, "Vision and Belief," addresses the spiritual eye; the final chapter, "Happy Endings," addresses the secular eye, in particular the art commissioned to honor strategic marriages.

The breadth of the research extends beyond the usual material for art historians, which makes the book a useful reference tool for scholars in many disciplines. Nearly a third of it is dedicated to notes and bibliography. A useful section entitled "Bibliographic Notes," reminiscent of literary annotations, is organized by chapter and gives biographical details of artists' and patrons' lives as well as Rubin's commentaries on primary sources, contracts, details of commissions, and other supportive literature.

The author acknowledges her debt to the work of several recent scholars, such as William Hood and Diane Zervas, who have examined artists and their works in the context of their Florentine surroundings, from political institutions to social customs to religious orders. Unlike these predecessors, who tend to focus on a single artist or a group of associated artists and discuss their work in context of its surroundings, Rubin explores themes and theoretical issues first and then weaves in the artists, patrons, and audience. In the theoretical aspects of her method, Rubin responds extensively to social history studies on public consumption by F. W. Kent and Goldthwaite, and to Baxandall's foundational scholarship on cognitive style. She mentions David Summers in her bibliography. In treating thematic and pragmatic aspects, Rubin's methodology in some ways resembles that of Bruce Cole, whom she omits. Like Cole, she asks and answers many basic questions relating the art to its social context that explain why the art was made, for whom, and how the contemporary audience saw it. Whereas Cole used broad, basic topics, such as worship, or civic and domestic life, Rubin's seven chapter titles are more allusive and her prose is more convoluted. This book would be heavy reading for most undergraduates.

The carefully chosen illustrations are a feast for the eyes and the soul. The high-quality photographs are well-labeled and details are cross-referenced. The layout of the book is equally effective. The paper is high quality with legible typeface and images appear alongside the appropriate text. Each of the three parts, as well as each chapter, begins with a compelling, full-page, contemplative detail of a work of art that relates immediately, directly, and enticingly to the text. Rubin's thoughtful use of images, especially in these introductory spaces (too often chosen just to be decorative), repeatedly reminds the reader what the book is about: magnificently crafted, profound images and the audience for whom they were made. They also remind the reader why discerning patrons sought such images and...