Lisa Jardine has written a very comprehensive, easy to read, book. The book,Worldly Goods, is a history of the Renaissance. The book provides interesting insights onculture, art, music, science, business, and human relations during the renaissance. Beginning by examining art as the consumer good that it was, Jardine constructs a culturalhistory of the Renaissance. She presents the facts in an easy to follow, well constructedway.The most important point the book is making is as follows: The pursuit of materialgoods and valuable possessions, including religious and secular art, was a definingcharacteristic of the Renaissance period. This is the thesis of the book. The entire bookrelates to how greedy and power hungry men became during the period. The title WorldlyGoods, is an indication of this. Rich men of the period were in constant search of materialworldly goods, such as fine paintings, sculpture, marble, rare stone, porcelain, silk fromChina, broadcloth from London, rich velvet, and fine carvings. These items are hardly asymbol of the deeply religious era the Renaissance is considered to be. The aristocracyhad to find ways to distinguish themselves from the commoners. Having lavish palacesfilled with rare and expensive art is what they came up with. “The buyer identified anartist whose work he liked; his agent sought him out and arranged the terms.” (23) This is an indication as to the trouble a rich man would go to have something consideredvaluable.The artist themselves, as explained by Jardine, were also wealth inspired. Preexisting ideas that the great artists of the time period were influenced by humanism arecompletely destroyed by the Author. Jardine explains how the artists played importantroles in the game of supply and demand. The great minds took everything they possiblycould from the buyers. The author speaks of a man named Urban. Urban wanted to buildand sell a huge gun to the Emperor of t...
