BY WILL DURANT
The Story of Philosophy
Transition
The Pleasure of Philosophy
Adventures in Genius
BY WILL AND ARIEL DURANT
THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION
1. Our Oriental Heritage
2. The Life of Greece
3. Caesar and Christ
4. The Age of Faith
5. The Renaissance
6. The Reformation
7. The Age of Reason Begins
8. The Age of Louis XIV
9. The Age of Voltaire
10. Rousseau and Revolution
11. The Age of Napoleon
The Lessons of History
Interpretation of Life
A Dual Autobiography
COPYRIGHT 1953 BY WILL DURANT
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
INCLUDING THE RIGHT OF REPRODUCTION
IN WHOLE OR IN PART IN ANY FORM
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eISBN-13: 978-1-45164-762-4
TO MY WIFE
Who has shared in a hundred ways
in writing this book
To the Reader
THIS volume, while complete and independent in itself, forms Part V in a history of civilization written on the “integral method” of uniting in one narrative all phases of human activity. The series began in 1935 with Our Oriental Heritage—a history of Egypt and the Near and Middle East to 323 B.C, and of India, China, and Japan to 1930. Part II, The Life of Greece (1939), recorded Greek history and culture from the beginnings, and the history of the Near and Middle East from 323 B.C., to the Roman Conquest in 146 B.C. Part III, Caesar and Christ (1944), carried the story of white civilization to A.D. 325, centered around the rise and fall of Rome, and the first centuries of Christianity. Part IV, The Age of Faith (1950), continued the narrative to 1300, including Byzantine civilization, Islam, Judaism, and Latin Christendom.
The present work aims to give a rounded picture of all phases of human life in the Italy of the Renaissance—from the birth of Petrarch in 1304 to the death of Titian in 1576. The term “Renaissance” will in this book refer only to Italy. The word does not properly apply to such native maturations, rather than exotic rebirths, as took place in France, Spain, England, and the Lowlands in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; and even in Italy the designation lays undue stress on that revival of classic letters which was of less importance to Italy than the ripening of its economy and culture into their own characteristic forms.
In order to avoid a superficial repetition of the excellent books already in print on this subject, the scale of treatment has been enlarged as compared with the previous volumes in the series. Moreover, as we approach our own epoch our interests are more widely engaged; we still feel in our blood the sap of those effervescent centuries in which modern Europe began; and their ideas, events, and personalities are especially vital to an understanding of our own minds and times.
I have studied at first hand nearly all the works of art mentioned in this book, but I lack the technical training that would give me the right to express any critical judgments. I have ventured, however, to voice my impressions and preferences. Modern art is absorbed in a forgivable reaction against the Renaissance, and is zealously experimenting to find new forms of beauty or significance. Our appreciation of the Renaissance should not deter us from welcoming every sincere and disciplined attempt to imitate not its products but its originality.
If circumstances permit, a sixth volume, probably under the title of The Age of the Reformation, will appear three or four years hence, covering the history of Christian, Islamic, and Judaic civilization outside of Italy from 1300, and in Italy from 1576 to 1648. The enlarged scale of treatment, and the imminence of senility, make it advisable to plan an end of the series with a seventh volume, The Age of Reason, which may carry the tale to the beginning of the nineteenth century.
Acknowledgments are due to Mr. Joseph Auslander for permission to quote his fine translation of a sonnet by Petrarch; to the Cambridge University Press for permission to quote a paragraph by Richard Garnett from Volume I of The Cambridge Modern History; to my wife for a hundred illuminating suggestions and conversations; to Dr. C. Edward Hopkin for aid in classifying the material; to Miss Mary Kaufman and Miss Flora Kaufman for varied clerical assistance; to Mrs. Edith Digate for her highly competent typing of a difficult manuscript; and to Wallace Brockway for expert editing and advice.
A tardy acknowledgment is due to my publishers. In my long association with them I have found them ideal. They have given me every consideration, have shared with me the expenses of research, and have never let calculations of profit or loss determine our relations. In 1926 they published my Story of Philosophy hoping only to “break even.” We have been together now for twenty-seven years; and it has been for me a fortunate and happy union.
Notes on the Use of This Book
1. Dates of birth and death are omitted from the text, but will be found in the index.
2. Passages in reduced type are for students and may be safely omitted by the general reader.
3. In locating works of art the name of the city will be used to indicate its leading picture gallery, e.g.:
Bergamo, the Accademia Carrara;
Berlin, the Kaiser-Friedrich Museum;
Brescia, the Pinacoteca Martinengo;
Chicago, the Art Institute;
Cleveland, the Museum of Art;
Detroit, the Institute of Art;
Leningrad, the Hermitage;
London, the National Gallery;
Madrid, the Prado;
Mantua, the Palazzo Ducale;
Milan, the Brera Gallery;
Modena, the Pinacoteca Estense;
Naples, the Museo Nazionale;
New York, the Metropolitan Museum of Art;
Parma, the Royal Gallery;
Venice, the Academy;
Washington, the National Gallery; but the great galleries of Florence will be distinguished by their names, Uffizi and Pitti, as will the Borghese in Rome.
WILL DURANT
Los Angeles, December 1, 1952
Table of Contents
BOOK I. PRELUDE: 1300–77
Chapter I: THE AGE OF PETRARCH AND BOCCACCIO: 1304–75
I. The Father of the Renaissance
II. Naples and Boccaccio
III. The Poet Laureate
IV. Rienzo’s Revolution
V. The Wandering Scholar