Book Review
The book is an interesting and informative excerpt and has an historical analysis of the accounts that took place between the 1400 to the 16 century. The events that took place have been clearly illustrated, starting with the rise to power by Cosim de’ Minici. It gives an analysis of the financial situation at the time by mentioning the influence that the bank and the people around him had on his influence at that time. To make the historical accounts more convincing, there has been numerical examples and explanations to strengthen the facts under discussion. The language used is simple and there is information from various sources touching on the topic or Cosim de Minci’s rise to power. The information that has been obtained comes across as being valuable in since it mixes various aspects of leadership such as power and religion. Religion is central in this society as witnessed by the pope Pius II’s comments on some of the buildings that he had designed in the place. Also, the fact that the setting of the storyline mostly focuses on the Greece and Rome, places known for their religious impact on the world, the author brings out the importance of religion in leadership(Mary 85).
The use of various reference materials such as the religious literature and artifacts helps to explain the significance of religion in this society. For instance, the author uses the paintings and models to express the artistic nature of this society. There are architectural designs that help in explaining the kind of architecture that was prevalent in the 16th century. These paintings and sculptures were designed to show the value that the people of Greece attached to Christianity. The paintings had high levels of nudity with the contrast that they were designed with making them to attract attention of the reader. However, the author made the book simpler and easy to read when he chose not to focus on using more Christian doctrines such as the ten Commandments and how they are supposed to be interpreted.
There has been effective use of simple language that helps to allow the reader to connect with the content of the book. In this book, there is not much emphasis on reference literature and the book comes across as being very informative. There is no usage of numerical information since the article mainly dwells on informing the reader about the past events that occurred at that point and time. Similarly, there is usage of paintings that were used in the past to denote the time of occurrence when the book was being written. It explains the culture that was prevalent at that point and time and the reasons that for that culture during then. At that time, culture was expressed in the paintings from the way they took the design of the worship places. Some of the chapters focus on providing an insightful analysis of the workshop in which there are objects that represent the church’s patronage. As one goes through the entire books, keenly reading between the lines, one will notice that there was a trend that was developed during the era of Cosimo in church patronage. The book has managed to go through the various points the church’s history, clearly relating the leadership of Cosimo and the impact that Christianity had during that time.
Work cited
Hollingsworth, Mary. Patronage in Renaissance Italy: From 1400 to the Early Sixteenth Century. London: John Murray, 1994. Print.
