In Michelangelos Werk, seinem Kunstlermythos und seiner Nachfolge ist Gewalt omniprasent: als Bildthema wie als Erzahlmotiv zur Veranschaulichung von Kreations- und Rezeptionsprozessen. Ausgehend von der Semantik des Begriffs "Violenza" im Sprachgebrauch des 16. Jahrhunderts, legt diese Arbeit Gewalt als zentrale Kategorie des michelangelesken Kunstdiskurses frei, die es ermoeglichte, Aspekte wie Kraft, Zerstoerung und kalkulierten Regelverstoss konzeptuell fassbar zu machen. Anhand zahlreicher Werk- und Textanalysen wird die Gewaltaffinitat von Michelangelos sprichwoertlicher "Terribilita" ebenso beleuchtet wie die kunsttheoretischen Vorstellungen von gewaltsamer kunstlerischer "Agency" im Umfeld des legendaren Ausnahmekunstlers.

Bildliche Darstellungen des Propheten Mohammed gab es in Europa schon lange vor dem sogenannten "Karikaturenstreit". Bereits im fruhen Buchdruck erscheint Mohammed als Personifikation der abendlandischen Vorstellungen vom Islam und zugleich als eine faszinierende, schillernde Figur von gesellschaftlicher Relevanz. Anhand von Druckgraphiken in Koranubersetzungen und Biographien des Propheten aus funf Jahrhunderten beschreibt die Studie die Konstanten und Wandlungen der Mohammedbilder in ihrem jeweiligen historischen Kontext. Damit leistet das Buch einen bildwissenschaftlichen Beitrag zur Eroerterung von Alteritatskonstruktionen, zur Frage von Religionsdarstellungen in der bildenden Kunst und zur Geschichte des Islambildes in Westeuropa.

The emergence of the modern Western artwork is sometimes cast as a slow process of secularization, with the devotional charge of images giving way in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries to a focus on the beauty and innovation of the artwork itself. Our understanding of art in this pivotal age is badly distorted, focused almost exclusively on religious and civic images. Even many Renaissance specialists believe that little secular painting survives from before the late fifteenth century, and its appearance becomes a further argument for the secularizing of art.

This book asks how history changes when a longer record of secular art is explored. It is the first study, in any language, of the decoration of Italian palaces and homes between 1300 and the mid-Quattrocento, and it argues that early secular painting was crucial to the development of modern ideas of art. Of the cycles discussed, some have been studied and published, but most are essentially unknown. A first aim is to enrich our understanding of the early Renaissance by introducing a whole corpus of secular painting that has been too long overlooked. Yet Painted Palaces is not a study of iconography. In examining the prehistory of painted rooms like Mantegna's Camera Picta, the larger goal is to rethink the history of early Renaissance art.

Focusing on artists and architectural complexes which until now have eluded scholarly attention in English-language publications, Apostolic Iconography and Florentine Confraternities in the Age of Reform examines through their art programs three different confraternal organizations in Florence at a crucial moment in their histories. Each of the organizations that forms the basis for this study oversaw renovations that included decorative programs centered on the apostles. At the complex of GesA(1) Pellegrino a fresco cycle represents the apostles in their roles as Christ's disciples and proselytizers. At the oratory of the company of Santissima Annunziata a series of frescoes shows their martyrdoms, the terrible price the apostles paid for their mission and their faith. At the oratory of San Giovanni Battista detta dello Scalzo a sculptural program of the apostles stood as an example to each confratello of how Christian piety had its roots in collective effort. Douglas Dow shows that the emphasis on the apostles within these corporate groups demonstrates how the organizations adapted existing iconography to their own purposes. He argues that their willful engagement with apostolic themes reveals the complex interaction between these organizations and the church's program of reform.

Perhaps the most imaginative writer on art in the sixteenth century, Giovan Paolo Lomazzo was also an ambitious painter, well-informed critic, and sarcastic wit: he proved a lively adversary for Vasari, Dolce, and even Aretino. His greatest contribution to the history of art is his special treatment of expression and, in its more mature form, self-expression. The image of the Temple of Painting embodies all his essential thoughts about art. Housing statues of Michelangelo, Gaudenzio Ferrari, Polidoro da Caravaggio, Leonardo, Raphael, Mantegna, and Titian--paradigms of style and, for Lomazzo, the seven greatest painters in the world--it guides the novice in the discovery of a unique style that matches his own temperament. Idea of the Temple of Painting (1590), written as a pithy introduction to the encyclopedic Trattato dell'arte della pittura, demonstrates why art is all about expressing an individual style, or maniera. Neither spontaneous nor unconscious, style reflects the rational process of adapting all the elements of painting into a harmonious whole. This treatise also represents a rare historical document. Presiding over an original confraternity of artists and humanists, Lomazzo actively participated in the Milan art scene, which is vividly brought to life by his personal commentaries. This is the first translation of any of his treatises into English.

In Art, Liturgy, and Legend in Renaissance Toledo, Lynette Bosch examines liturgical manuscripts that members of the powerful Mendoza family commissioned for the cathedral of Toledo at a time when it was the symbolic center of the Spanish nation. Using patronage as a filter, Bosch relates the style, content, and function of these lavish manuscripts to the many-sided ritual life of the Cathedral and, beyond that, to its social and political role in efforts to forge Spanish identity in the midst of the Reconquista.

Bosch's study shows that the patrons of the Toledan manuscripts were active proponents both of the Catholic monarchy and of an extraordinary hybrid culture. Although medieval legend and history are laced through this "caballero culture," Bosch breaks new ground by also connecting it to the taste and outlook associated with the Renaissance. Art, Liturgy, and Legend in Renaissance Toledo includes a complete catalogue of the Toledan liturgical manuscripts.

Robert Payne, author of some of the most widely read biographies of our day, now brings us a new and fascinating portrayal of Leonardo da Vinci. This is the third volume of our recently released Robert Payne Library series.

Le Moulin et la Croix, de Michael Francis Gibson plonge le lecteur dans un surprenant tableau de Pierre Breugel l'Aine - Le Portement de Crois - une uvre ambigue qui illustre a la fois la passion du Christ et l'execution d'un predicateur de la Reforme a l'epoque de Bruegel lui-meme. Ce livre qui, selon le New York Times, est aussi lisible et fascinant qu'un roman d'espionnage de premier ordre, inspira le film de Lech Majewski, Bruegel - le Moulin et la Croix, lance au Louvre en avril 2011 avec Charlotte Rampling, Michael York et Rutger Hauer (www.themillandthecross.com). Cette nouvelle edition du livre s'appuie sur de nouvelles photos detaillees qui permettent au lecteur de decouvrir des details etonnants et jamais encore vus. Ces details, dit Philippe de Montebello, Directeur Emerite du Metropolitan Museum of Art de New York, a notre emerveillement, rehaussent encore d'un cran l'admiration que nous vouons a Pierre Bruegel l'Aine. Pour plus de renseignements sur le livre voir www.the-university-of-levana-press.com.