Art and Politics in Late Medieval and Early Renaissance Italy, 1250-1500. by Charles M.RosenbergReview by: Benjamin G. KohlThe Sixteenth Century Journal, Vol. 22, No. 3 (Autumn, 1991), pp. 571-572Published by: The Sixteenth Century JournalStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2541486 .

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Book Reviews 571

Art and Politics in Late Medieval and Early Renaissance Italy, 1250- 1500. Charles M. Rosenberg, ed. Notre Dame: Notre Dame Press, 1990. viii + 232 pp. + 83 plates. $39.95.

Despite the fine spring days and brilliant autumnal foliage of northern Indiana, South Bend is scarcely a likely spot for "conferencing." Yet this collection of nine essays with three "commentaries" on six of the papers is the second volume of the new series of Notre Dame Conferences in Medieval Studies to appear in 1990, embodying some of the virtues and several of the defects of the American system of academic conferences.

The virtues are apparent: a coherent theme, speakers of great learning and authority, a diligent and enthusiastic editor. But the drawbacks are great: brief, often schematic, even

superficial, papers, perhaps reflecting the half-hour slots allotted for presentation, black-and- white plates of generally poor quality, and a lamentable tendency of several of the participants to simply rehash work already published and return to subjects previously treated. At least one

paper even avoids the admittedly broad theme of art and politics: Joseph Berrigan's discussion of tyranny in Verona and Padua is simply a comparison (through extensive quotation in

English translation) of the works of three pre-humanists, Benzo d'Alessandria on Cangrande della Scala and Rolandino of Padua and Albertino Mussato on Ezzelino da Romano-utilizing his own able editions and translations.

Closer to the conference topic is Joanna Woods-Marsden's learned discussion of Pisa- nello's and Cristoforo di Geremia's medals depicting Alfonso V of Naples. Richard Trexler's boldly interpretive "Triumph and Mourning in North Italian Magi Art" compares the

meaning of the Magi as symbols of triumph over death using a number of monuments, from the familiar Ubriachi burial chapel at Santa Maria Novella in Florence, through the Bolognini Chapel in Bologna, to the frescoes depicting the Carrara rulers commissioned by members of the Bovi family in 1397 in the Oratorio di San Michele in Padua. But this last elliptical two- page treatment contains several mistakes, from the trivial misdating of the death of Francesco il Vecchio da Carrara, which occurred in 1393, not 1392, to the astounding assertion that Bovi "furnished gold coinage" from the Carrara mint that issued only silver and billon coinage.

Julian Gardner's fascinating discussion of French influence on papal tombs of the late Duecento whets one's appetite for his forthcoming book on Papal Tomb Sculpture in Italy and Avignon, 1200-1400, while D'Arcy Boulton brings his singular knowledge of medieval

heraldry to an intriguing discussion of badges and arms of late medieval Italian lords and

princes. These two papers are assessed and clarified byJohn Larner's incisive comments, as are

Stinger's and Reiss's essays on Rome and the papacy by John O'Malley and Pincus and Goffen on art and politics in Venice by the commentary of Edward Muir. Indeed, including the

unfailingly insightful comments of the three discussants is one of the great successes of this volume.

Unfortunately for readers of this journal, the two essays on topics squarely in the sixteenth century offer little that is new, presenting, with minor changes, portions of the

previously published work. Charles Stinger's discussion of the Campidoglio as locus of Renovatio Imperii rearranges and reprints (often verbatim) material from his excellent The Renaissance in Rome (1985), pp. 73-74, 97-98, 157-58, 253-56, 298-99. Rona Goffen's "Piety and Patronage in the Age of Giovanni Bellini" reproduces with some verbal changes and a new

concluding paragraph the very language of her recent Giovanni Bellini (1989), pp. 28, 52-53, 96-101, 205-11. Even worse, Goffen is so wedded to merely reproducing her own previously published text that she fails to respond to Ed Muir's devastating criticism that Doge Agostino Barbarigo's placement of Saint Mark in his votive painting as a reference to his deceased brother, Marco, would "have been particularly subversive since it had dynastic implications." (224)

In short, despite the announced theme of art and politics, this volume is rather a mixed bag. In the future, contributors should be forced to present new scholarship, founded on

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572 The Sixteenth Century Journal XXII/3 1991

original research. Otherwise, it is hard to understand why the Notre Dame Press should bear the trouble and expense of publishing the proceedings.

Benjamin G. Kohl Vassar College

Good Government in Spanish Naples. Edited and translated by Antonio Calabria andJohn A. Marino. New York: Peter Lang, 1990. xiii + 320 pp. $76.00

The editors freely acknowledge the paradox in their title. Machiavelli and Guicciardini both portrayed the kingdom of Naples as a weak, corrupt, dispirited polity, and their diagnosis has influenced the general perception of the realm ever since. Like many another recent scholar, however, the editors take a cue from Croce, who found that the rule of the Spanish viceroys in Naples (1503-1707) had some redeeming social value. In Croce's view, the entrenched, independent barons had thwarted the development of civil life in Naples by irresponsibly pursuing their own selfish ambitions. Thus Croce appreciated the viceroys' efforts to institute bureaucratic government that could subordinate the barons, tend to the

larger public good, and oversee the emergence of a genuine political culture in Naples. In effect, then, Croce understood the viceroys' efforts as a chapter in the history of state building in early modern Europe.

In the manner of Croce and Eric Cochrane, the editors take the late Italian Renaissance

seriously. They do not pretend that good government in Spanish Naples approached absolute standards of goodness. But they reject any assumption that Naples was for any reason doomed to political, social, economic, or cultural stagnation, human efforts to the contrary notwith- standing. The editors make their case briefly but straightforwardly in their introduction to the volume. Thereafter, the case rests on a collection of six essays here translated into English for the first time. The essays all deal with themes in political and economic history. Two of them have influenced thinking about Neapolitan history for a very long time indeed: Giuseppe Galasso's brilliant analysis of Spanish policy in Naples during the sixteenth century, and Rosario Villari's sure-handed study of the Neapolitan financial crisis of the 1630s and 1640s. Two other essays present detailed reports on local experiences: G6rard Delille's study of

demography and agricultural productivity in the Caudine Valley, and Silvio Zotta's analysis of

agrarian crisis in the feudal state of Melfi. The remaining works demonstrate the value of fresh

approaches for the study of Spanish Naples: Giovanni Muto outlines the organization and administration of poor relief in the city of Naples, and Vittor Ivo Comparato offers a splendid analysis of Neapolitan political culture on the eve of the revolt of 1647.

From these essays there emerges a picture not of a realm predestined to corruption and

poverty, but of a region where real people sought realistic solutions to the extraordinarily difficult real problems that they faced. Spanish Naples did not benefit from good government in any absolute sense. But efforts to organize public finance, to provide for an adequate food

supply, to keep the peace, and to administerjustice all illustrate the continuing influence of the Renaissance ideal of good government. The essays presented here thus examine the early modern state under tremendous strain, and they cast useful light on the possibilities and the limitations of the state as an institution. This intelligent collection of essays should hold considerable interest for scholars interested in the problems and dynamics of state building in

early modern Europe.

Jerry H. Bentley University of Hawaii

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