ÉPUISÉ - The Panorama of the Renaissance. An Encyclopaedic Sourcebook (Including Exploration, Architecture, Medicine, Women, Music, War, Art, Science, Fashion, Royalty, Religion, Eroticism, Literature and Business), 1996, 368 p., env. 1000 ill. coul. et n.b., rel. -

No period has been more discussed, dissected and argued over than the Renaissance, and every age has re-constructed it in its own image. Today's emphasis is on its complexity – the way ideas, politics, religion, society, art and science depended upon and affected one another. The fascinating range of topics covered here includes the revival of classical learning, the printing press, the rise of the nation-state, philosophy and the role of women.The Panorama of the Renaissance does away with watertight divisions by means of a lucid, innovatory system of cross-references and brings the image to centre stage. The scope is all-embracing: Italy, France, Spain, Britain, Germany and the northern countries; courts and patrons, painters and sculptors, churchmen and traders, men, women and children. Over 1000 illustrations are carefully focused on over 100 key topics, subject-matter taking precedence over art-history. An impressive information resource provides biographies, timelines, bibliography, a gazetteer of museums and galleries and an illustrated glossary. M. Aston, who introduces the book and its eight main themes, is an historian with a world-wide reputation. Under her expert guidance, The Panorama of the Renaissance gives today's reader and student a lively, comprehensive and up-to-date overview of this enthralling time.