Description
Book SynopsisWith the invention of eyeglasses around 1280 near Pisa, the mundane medium of glass transformed early modern optical technology and visuality. It also significantly influenced contemporaneous art, religion, and science. References to glass are found throughout the Bible and in medieval hagiography and poetry. For instance, glass is mentioned in descriptions of Heavenly Jerusalem, the Beatific Vision, and the Incarnation. At the same time, a well-known Islamic scientific treatise, which likened a portion of the eye's anatomy to glass, entered the scientific circles of the Latin West. Amidst this complex web of glass-related phenomena early modern Italian artists used glass in some of their most important artworks but, until now, no study has offered a comprehensive consideration of the important role glass played in shaping the art of the Italian Renaissance.
Seeing Renaissance Glass explores how artists such as Giotto, Duccio, Nicola Pisano, Simone Martini, and others e
Table of Contents
Illustrations – Acknowledgments – Introduction to Seeing Renaissance Glass: Art, Optics, and Glass of Early Modern Italy, 1250–1425 – Stained Glass: Duccio, Simone Martini, and Taddeo Gaddi – Gilded Glass: Nicola Pisano, Simone Martini, Orcagna, and Paolo di Giovanni Fei – Transparent Glass from the East: Beruni, Hunain, and Alhazen – Transparent Glass in the West: Pietro Lorenzetti, Naddo Ceccarelli, and Others – Verre Églomisé Reliquaries: Pietro Teutonico and Tommaso da Modena – Conclusion: Giotto, Brunelleschi, Alberti, and the Network of Glass – Index.
