Neoplatonism of the Italian Renaissance

Originally published in 1935, the aim of this title is first to give a clear outline of Florentine Neoplatonism, and then to consider its influence on art and literature during a period that extends roughly from the age of Lorenzo de' Medici to the middle of the sixteenth century and the beginnings of the Counter-Reformation. No rigid divisions of time have been fixed, but with few exceptions the works discussed may be placed between these bounds. Even within these limits it would require a work of greater dimensions that the present to exhaust so large a subject in all its bearings. The leaven of Neoplatonism had penetrated the thought of the age in many directions; this study is confined to such of its manifestations as were, in a somewhat narrow sense, artistic and literary and to the use and abuse of philosophical ideas for aesthetic purposes.

Nesca A. Robb

Introduction. 1. Petrarch 2. Petrarch to Ficino 3. Marsilio Ficino and the Platonic Academy of Florence 4. The Medici Circle (i): Poliziano, Lorenzo de'Medici, Girolamo Benivieni 5. The Medici Circle (ii): The Poema Visione 6. The Trattato d'Amore 7. Neoplatonism and the Arts 8. The Lyric: Michelangelo. Conclusion. Appendix. Bibliography. Index.