Urbino
The Story of a Renaissance City
208 pages
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140 color plates
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11-1/2 x 9-3/4
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© 2003
During the Renaissance, the Italian city of Urbino rivaled Florence and Siena as a center of art, culture, and commerce. Chances are you've never heard of it—but you should have. Raphael was born there. Piero della Francesca painted his famous The Flagellation there. And the city's exquisite Ducal Palace, its twin towers piercing the sky, remains a striking monument to grace and power. Yet despite all its past glory and present charm, Urbino is practically unknown to tourists today.
With Urbino: The Story of a Renaissance City, art historian June Osborne brings to life not only the great city and its art but also its turbulent history and the intrigue surrounding its ruling family. First settled by the ancient Umbrians, Urbino reached its zenith during the fifteenth century under the rule of Duke Federico da Montefeltro and his son Guidobaldo. Federico may have been a usurper and a fierce, opportunistic warlord, but his lust for power was more than matched by his passion for great art. Indeed it was under his direct guidance that the magnificent Ducal Palace was built—its perfectly proportioned courtyard a wonder of early Renaissance architecture.
Today the Ducal Palace hosts the National Gallery of the Marches, one of the most important art galleries in Italy, featuring works by no lesser lights than Raphael, Uccello, Piero della Francesca, and Titian. Exploring such sites as the fourteenth-century Oratorio di San Giovanni Battista and the Gothic Church of San Domenico, Osborne captures not only the startling beauty of Urbino and the Apennine foothills but also the tumultuous legacy of Frederico and his son (and their many wives and courtiers).
With over a hundred lavish color photographs, many by renowned landscape photographer Joe Cornish, Urbino is the best—and the only—guide to this gem of the Italian Marches.
With Urbino: The Story of a Renaissance City, art historian June Osborne brings to life not only the great city and its art but also its turbulent history and the intrigue surrounding its ruling family. First settled by the ancient Umbrians, Urbino reached its zenith during the fifteenth century under the rule of Duke Federico da Montefeltro and his son Guidobaldo. Federico may have been a usurper and a fierce, opportunistic warlord, but his lust for power was more than matched by his passion for great art. Indeed it was under his direct guidance that the magnificent Ducal Palace was built—its perfectly proportioned courtyard a wonder of early Renaissance architecture.
Today the Ducal Palace hosts the National Gallery of the Marches, one of the most important art galleries in Italy, featuring works by no lesser lights than Raphael, Uccello, Piero della Francesca, and Titian. Exploring such sites as the fourteenth-century Oratorio di San Giovanni Battista and the Gothic Church of San Domenico, Osborne captures not only the startling beauty of Urbino and the Apennine foothills but also the tumultuous legacy of Frederico and his son (and their many wives and courtiers).
With over a hundred lavish color photographs, many by renowned landscape photographer Joe Cornish, Urbino is the best—and the only—guide to this gem of the Italian Marches.
"Astonishingly, this is the first book in English entirely devoted to Urbino. Elegant and immensely readable, it will delight anybody visiting this central Italian city, and anybody who hasn't made it yet, for that matter. June Osborne's highly absorbing text has a foreword by Sir John Mortimer and is complemented by page upon page of beautiful colour photographs by Joe Cornish. It is clear that Urbino is Osborne's first love: her eloquent presentation of the triumphs and tragedies that shaped this influential renaissance city is always engaging, frequently speckled with humour, and 'sympatico'. Osborne explores the geography and history of the city, following its shifting fortunes from its Roman beginnings through to its position as the embodiment of the renaissance ideal, its subsequent decline and redevelopment. . . . The result reflects the vibrancy and beauty of Urbino past and present. It is a worthy tribute."--Susannah Woolmer, Apollo
"No words, photos, or flights of imagination can quite prepare you for Urbino, the birthplace of Raphael. Small, but with an immense aura, the town is the legacy of Duke Federico de Montefeltro, whose twin-towered, red-brick leviathan of a palace is a designer icon of the Renaissance. . . . In the middle of the morning, in the middle of [its] perfectly proportioned courtyard, considered by art historians to be an architectural highpoint of the early Renaissance, I was the only tourist."
“The most extensive and in-depth treatment of the topic to be published in English. . . . [Urbino] will serve both as a guide for would-be tourists and also as a resource for art and cultural historians, who will benefit from the study’s wealth of fresh photographs and clearly presented information. . . . Osborne has written (and the University of Chicago Press has produced) a beautiful book that can readily serve the interests of a diverse readership. No doubt her great teacher, the late Sir Ernst [Gombrich], would be proud of the accomplishment.”—Michael Schwartz, Renaissance Quarterly
Contents
Foreword by Sir John Mortimer
Introduction
1. The Renaissance Ideal
2. Location and the Roman City
3. Early Medieval Urbino
4. Prelude to a Golden Age
5. A Leader in War and Peace
6. The Ducal Palace and Its Furnishings
7. Federico as a Patron of Learning
8. Painting in Fifteenth-Century Urbino
9. Later Days of the Duchy
10. The Arts in the Later Days of the Duchy
11. The Book of the Courtier
12. Over the Hill
Appendix: The Kite
The Montefel Tro Dynasty
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. The Renaissance Ideal
2. Location and the Roman City
3. Early Medieval Urbino
4. Prelude to a Golden Age
5. A Leader in War and Peace
6. The Ducal Palace and Its Furnishings
7. Federico as a Patron of Learning
8. Painting in Fifteenth-Century Urbino
9. Later Days of the Duchy
10. The Arts in the Later Days of the Duchy
11. The Book of the Courtier
12. Over the Hill
Appendix: The Kite
The Montefel Tro Dynasty
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments
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