Patronage, in its broadest sense, has been established as one of the dominant social processes of pre-industrial Europe. While it has been traditionally viewed simply as the context for extraordinary artistic creativity, patronage has more recently been examined by historians and art historians alike as a comprehensive system of patron-client structures which permeated society and social relations. Focusing specifically on the city of Florence, these essays explore the new understanding of Renaissance Italy as a 'patronage society, ' considering its implications for the study of art patronage...

The Roman family is a key concept in the understanding of Roman society at all levels, from the aristocratic elite to slaves. The intertwined themes of status, sentiment, and space, with the use of many types of evidence, from the legal and literary to the iconographical and archaeological, enable the contributors to this book to set out new insights into the family life of the people of Roman Italy.

The family continues to be seen as a central institution in Roman as well as modern, Western society. This volume draws on a wide range of disciplines to develop the intertwined themes of status, sentiment, and space. The book makes use of many types of evidence--from the legal and literary to the iconographical and archaeological, and draws on visual and material evidence in reconstructing real lives in considerable color and variety.