Research Catalog
Luxury and the ethics of greed in early modern Italy
- Title
- Luxury and the ethics of greed in early modern Italy / edited by Catherine Kovesi.
- Publication
- Turnhout : Brepols, [2018]
- ©2018
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Not available - Please for assistance. | Text | Use in library | HD9999.L853 I85 2018 | Off-site |
Details
- Additional Authors
- Kovesi, Catherine
- Description
- xxx, 305 pages : color illustrations; 24 cm
- Summary
- A new, scholarly, and lively appraisal of the twin paradigms of Luxury and Greed as they were debated, disseminated, enacted, and feigned in early modern Italy. This book unravels the complex interaction of the paradigms of luxury and greed which lie at the origins of modern consumption practices. In the Western world, the phenomenon of luxury and the ethical dilemmas it raised appeared, for the first time since antiquity, in early modern Italy. Here, luxury emerged as a core idea in the conceptualization of consumption. Simultaneously, greed--which manifested in new and unrestrained consumption practices--came under close ethical scrutiny. As the buying power of new classes gained pace, these paradigms evolved as they continued both to influence, and be influenced by, other emerging global cultures through the early modern period. After defining luxury and greed in their historical contexts, the volume's chapters elucidate new consumptive goods, from chocolate to official robes of state; they examine how ideas about, and objects of, luxury and greed were disseminated through print, diplomacy, and gift-giving; and they reveal how even the most elite of consumers could fake their luxury objects. A group of international scholars from a range of disciplines thereby provide a new appraisal and vision of luxury and the ethics of greed in early modern Italy.--Provided by publisher.
- Series Statement
- Early European research ; volume 14
- Uniform Title
- Early European research ; v. 14.
- Subject
- Genre/Form
- History.
- Bibliography (note)
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Contents
- Introduction -- Section 1. Luxury and Greed: Defining the Terms -- Luxus: How Luxury Acquired Its Lustre -- Dante's She-Wolf: Luxury and Greed in the Divine Comedy -- The Language of Luxury in Renaissance Florence -- Section 2. Consuming Luxury -- 'Taste of Luxury' in Renaissance Italy: In Practice and in the Literary Imagination -- Chocolate in the Historical Imagination -- Vesti bollate: The Italian Fashion Gazette of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries (shapes, colours, decorations) -- The Pressures of Magnificence: Senatorial Dress in Sixteenth-Century Venice -- Section 3. Disseminating Luxury -- Disseminating Luxury on the Streets of Italian Renaissance Cities -- Italian Maiolica and Gift-giving Between Women c.1480-1600 -- Luxury, Technology, and the Diplomatic Gift -- Section 4. Faking it: The Pretense of Luxury -- Material Fictions of Luxury in Sforza Milan -- Cheap Magnificence?: Imitation and Low-Cost Luxuries in Renaissance Italy.
- ISBN
- 9782503580111
- 2503580114
- LCCN
- 2019303224
- OCLC
- on1083187691
- 1083187691
- SCSB-9656289
- Owning Institutions
- Princeton University Library