According to history books, the Renaissance and its way of understanding art began in the 15th century. However, the truth is that it was not until 1527, after the sack of Rome, that this new style became the symbol of Catholicism and reached the heights of popularity that managed to redefine forever the way of understanding painting, sculpture and architecture.

In this long-awaited book, Alberto Garín analyses the political intrigues and profound social changes that defined this era to explore the ambition of the popes, the power of the kings and the dreams of grandeur that drove an unprecedented revolution. And, of course, it delves into the masterpieces and geniuses such as Leonardo, Michelangelo and Botticelli, among many other names, who were part of this artistic period.

"The Renaissance has been considered the artistic style that, from the 15th century onwards, managed to recover for Europe a humanist and rational classical world, after ten centuries of medieval, theocratic and irrational obscurantism. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Neither the Middle Ages were dark and irrational, nor the Renaissance is that supposed moment of brilliant humanism. In reality, the Renaissance emerged as a political reaction of the Florentine elites against the emperor's German armies and eventually became the quintessential style of the popes and the Catholic world.

Between 1400 and 1527, the Renaissance was an anecdotal artistic movement at the courts of the Catholic Monarchs, the Emperor Charles V, the Valois kings of France and Henry VIII of England.

Valois of France or Henry VIII of England, where the most sophisticated forms of medieval art dominated. Only when the Renaissance became a symbol of Catholicism did it become an artistic style that conquered the world".

• Pages: 304
• Language: Spanish
• Author: Alberto Garín
• Year: 2025
• MODEL: 9788419802972

Publisher: Taschen