The Florentine Academy and the Early Modern State

This title examines the academic, confraternal, and guild practices of artists in Florence over a period of two hundred years, from the mid-sixteenth to the mid-eighteenth century. Based on archival sources, many of which are published here for the first time, it provides a detailed study of the pedagogy in the institution’s school, and also focuses on the public dimension of artists’ lives - the performance of corporate charity, devotion, and juridical authority, as well as academic exercises, intellectual exchange, and the development of fora within which dilettantes could display their wealth and demonstrate their erudition. Covering the history of the Academy under Medici rule, and examining production, reception and patronage associated with the concept disegno, this study links changes in artistic practice to shifts in the political fortunes of the Tuscan Grand Dukes.