Art, Theory, and Culture in Sixteenth-Century Italy

Art, Theory and Culture in Sixteenth-Century Italy was originally published in 1998, and offers a critical overview of the literature on the visual arts produced during the High and Late Renaissance. Analysing and interpreting texts by such writers as Vasari, Lomazzo, Zuccaro, and Tasso, Robert Williams demonstrates how these works offer insight into the experience of contemporary viewers, thus permitting a clearer view of the relationship between abstract thought and lived experience. Also examined is the argument that art is a privileged form of knowledge that subordinates all others. By focusing on a hitherto neglected, but important, body of literature, Williams shows how an understanding of it can transform our knowledge and appreciation of the Renaissance.

• An intriguing approach to an old and fundamental problem, bringing a broader cultural historical perspective informed by contemporary critical theory
• Examines the transformation of art as a form of knowledge from a technique to a cultural practice
• Cross-over interest between art, history and literature