On the Importance of Being an Individual in Renaissance Italy: Men, Their Professions, and Their Beards

Douglas Biow

Published by University of Pennsylvania Press 2015

On the Importance of Being an Individual in Renaissance Italy

Men, Their Professions, and Their Beards

Douglas Biow

In the series Haney Foundation Series

https://doi.org/10.9783/9780812290509

Overview
Contents

About this book

Arguing that the notion of individuality is central to understanding Renaissance Italy, Douglas Biow examines the ways that men of the period asserted their individuated selves, such as becoming masters of an art, creating a signature professional style or voice, or asserting themselves through a distinctive, fashionable look.

Author / Editor information

Douglas Biow is Superior Oil Company-Linward Shivers Centennial Professor of Medieval and Renaissance Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, as well as the Director of its Center for European Studies. He is the author of In Your Face: Professional Improprieties and the Art of Being Conspicuous in Sixteenth-Century Italy; Doctors, Ambassadors, Secretaries: Humanism and Professions in Renaissance Italy; and The Culture of Cleanliness in Renaissance Italy, among other books.

Reviews

"An elegant, erudite, and polemical book that most assuredly makes an important contribution to the literature on Renaissance individuality and male identity."—James R. Farr, Purdue University

"Douglas Biow offers a spirited and refreshing account of the ways Renaissance men carved out space for individuality over against the norms of their professions and communities."—John Jeffries Martin, Duke University

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Preface Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	ix
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
PART I. PROFESSIONALISM
Chapter 1. Professionally Speaking: The Value of Ars and Arte in Renaissance Italy—Reflections on the Historical Reach of Techne Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	21
Chapter 2. Reflections on Professions and Humanism in Renaissance Italy and the Humanities Today Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	93
PART II. MAVERICKS
Chapter 3. Constructing a Maverick Physician in Print: Reflections on the Peculiar Case of Leonardo Fioravanti’s Writings Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	117
Chapter 4. Visualizing Cleanliness, Visualizing Washerwomen in Venice and Renaissance Italy: Reflections on the Peculiar Case of Jacopo Tintoretto’s Jews in the Desert Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	152
PART III. BEARDS
Chapter 5. Facing the Day: Reflections on a Sudden Change in Fashion and the Magisterial Beard Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	181
Chapter 6. Manly Matters: Reflections on Giordano Bruno’s Candelaio, and the Theatrical and Social Function of Beards in Sixteenth-Century Italy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	207
Epilogue Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	225
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	229
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	261
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	293
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	309

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Audience: College/higher education;
Pages
- Main content: 328
Illustrations
- Other: 56 illus.
Keywords: Cultural Studies; History; Medieval and Renaissance Studies; Literature

eBook

Published: January 27, 2015
ISBN: 9780812290509