The Mythological Origins of Renaissance Florence

In this book, Irina Chernetsky examines how humanists, patrons, and artists promoted Florence as the reincarnation of the great cities of pagan and Christian antiquity – Athens, Rome, and Jerusalem. The architectural image of an ideal Florence was discussed in chronicles and histories, poetry and prose, and treatises on art and religious sermons. It was also portrayed in paintings, sculpture, and sketches, as well as encoded in buildings erected during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Over time, the concept of an ideal Florence became inseparable from the real city, in both its social and architectural structures. Chernetsky demonstrates how the Renaissance notion of genealogy was applied to Florence, which was considered to be part of a family of illustrious cities of both the past and present. She also explores the concept of the ideal city in its intellectual, political, and aesthetic contexts, while offering new insights into the experience of urban space.

• Offers a unifying approach to traditional interpretations of Florence as a New Athens, Rome, and Jerusalem
• Demonstrates how the Renaissance idea of genealogy was applied to Florence, seen as one of a family of illustrious cities
• Studies the concept of Florence as the iteration of three historical cities-Athens, Rome, and Jerusalem-- and how this concept was expressed in the architecture of the city