The world of wealth and patronage that we associate with sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century Italy can make the Renaissance seem the exclusive domain of artists and aristocrats. Revealing a Renaissance beyond Michelangelo and the Medici, Sarah Gwyneth Ross recovers the experiences of everyday men and women who were inspired to pursue literature and learning.

Ross draws on a trove of original unpublished sources-wills, diaries, household inventories, account books, and other miscellany-to reconstruct the lives of over one hundred artisans, merchants, and others on the middle rung of Venetian society who embraced the ennobling virtues of a humanistic education. These men and women sought out the latest knowledge, amassed personal libraries, and passed both their books and their hard-earned wisdom on to their families and heirs.

Physicians were often the most avid-and the most anxious-of professionals seeking cultural legitimacy. Ross examines the lives of three doctors: Nicolo Massa (1485-1569), Francesco Longo (1506-1576), and Alberto Rini (d. 1599). Though they had received university training, these self-made men of letters were not patricians but members of a social group that still yearned for credibility. Unlike priests or lawyers, physicians had not yet rid themselves of the taint of artisanal labor, and they were thus indicative of a middle class that sought to earn the respect of their peers and betters, protect and advance their families, and secure honorable remembrance after death.

About the Author
Sarah Gwyneth Ross is Associate Professor of History, Boston College.

Reviews
An innovative, highly significant, and original contribution to the study of early modern European cultural history. Ross makes a concrete, well-documented case that cultural pursuits served an important set of purposes in helping early modern people craft their identities. -- Christopher S. Celenza, author of Machiavelli: A Portrait
Everyday Renaissances rests on a solid foundation of original archival research; Ross has mined inventories and testaments for what they can tell us about the humanistic values and aspirations of their subjects. Clearly written and logically structured, this is a significant addition to our understanding of Venetian Renaissance humanism. -- Craig Kallendorf, author of Humanist Educational Treatises


Awards
Nominated for Phyllis Goodhart Gordan Book Prize 2017 and Longman-History Today Awards 2017 and George A. and Jean S. DeLong Book History Prize 2017 and PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize 2017.



Book Information
ISBN 9780674659834
Author Sarah Gwyneth Ross
Format Hardback
Page Count 256
Imprint Harvard University Press
Publisher Harvard University Press