The Light of Italy: The Life and Times of Federico da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino

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Jane Stevenson

The Light of Italy

The Life and Times of Federico da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino

Jane Stevenson

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Hardback

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English

Head of Zeus
01 January 2022

Biography: historical, political & military; History; European history; Early modern history: c 1450 to c 1700

The story of the Renaissance city and palace of Urbino, and the life of the extraordinary man who created it: Federico da Montefeltro, humanist, book-collector, patron of celebrated artists and battle-scarred mercenary soldier.

The story of the Renaissance city and palace of Urbino, and the life of the extraordinary man who created it: Federico da Montefeltro. 'Painstakingly researched and yet unfailingly readable' Ross King 'An insight into one of Renaissance Italy's most glamorous courts' Catherine Fletcher 'Sumptuous illustrations... Jane Stevenson's loving biography [is] the perfect tour guide to the past' Literary Review 'A fabulous merging of seductive design with bravura scholarship' Alexandra Harris 'A superior study... Packed with detail' TLS

The hilltop town of Urbino, on the eastern side of Italy's Apennines, is an idyllic place of steep streets lined with houses and palazzi of weathered brick. In the fifteenth century it was the shining capital of a cultured duchy, ruled by a remarkable man.

The one-eyed mercenary soldier Federico da Montefeltro, lord of Urbino between 1444 and 1482, was one of the most successful and extraordinary condottiere of the Italian Renaissance: renowned humanist, patron of the artist Piero della Francesca, and creator of one of the most celebrated libraries in Italy outside the Vatican. From 1460 until her early death in 1472 he was married to Battista, of the formidable Sforza family, their partnership apparently a blissful one. In the fine palace he built overlooking the rooftops of Urbino, Federico assembled a court regarded by many as representing a high point of Renaissance culture. For Baldassare Castiglione, author of The Book of the Courtier, Federico was la luce dell'Italia – 'the light of Italy'.

Jane Stevenson's affectionate account of Urbino's flowering and decline casts revelatory light on patronage, politics and humanism in fifteenth-century Italy. It also depicts the physically demanding lifestyles of Italy's mercenary captains and the often prominent political and cultural roles played by their wives during their protracted absences on campaign. As well as recounting the gripping stories of Federico and his Montefeltro and della Rovere successors, The Light of Italy considers in details Federico's cultural legacy – investigating the palace itself, the splendours of the ducal library, and his other architectural projects in Gubbio and elsewhere.

By: Jane Stevenson
Imprint: Head of Zeus
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9781800241978
ISBN 10: 1800241976
Pages: 434
Publication Date: 01 January 2022
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Jane Stevenson has taught at the universities of Cambridge, Sheffield, Warwick and Aberdeen, and is now a Senior Research Fellow at Campion Hall, Oxford. She is the author of Baroque Between the Wars, a study of alternative currents in the interwar arts, and Edward Burra: Twentieth Century Eye.

Reviews for The Light of Italy: The Life and Times of Federico da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino

'Jane Stevenson shows us the man - warts, battle scars, collapsed vertebrae and all - behind the myth of one of the most fascinating characters in Renaissance Italy ... Painstakingly researched and yet unfailingly readable' -- Ross King 'An insight into one of Renaissance Italy's most glamorous courts. The lords of Urbino are not nearly so well-known as the Medici or Borgias, but their architectural and art patronage, and book-collecting, deserve to be recognised - as do their military skills and bloodthirsty intrigues' -- Catherine Fletcher 'In a narrative matching her book's sumptuous illustrations, Jane Stevenson celebrates Urbino as an essential place of pilgrimage for all lovers of Italian art and literature' -- Jonathan Keates 'A fascinating account of the patrons and artists behind the creation of one of Italy's hidden treasures' -- Mary Hollingsworth 'A fabulous merging of seductive design with bravura scholarship' -- Alexandra Harris