The Feud that Sparked the Renaissance: How Brunelleschi and Ghiberti Changed the Art World

This was a great way to learn more at what the lives of these innovative artists must have been like and the struggles they encountered. A great read for an art history student.

The Feud That Sparked the Renaissance is a book that is skillfully written and filled with specific information. That said I feel that the average person could purchase the book and feel that they could enter it's world without a deep and preexisting knowledge of the renaissance.For the experts on the renaissance that feel as though they must soak up every available fact that pertains to it; this book is for you.For the rest of us that merely want an introduction to the subject, the search presses onward; this book is not for you. (unless you are particularly diligent).

I have been a Renaissance junkie and more particularly a Florence junkie since I lived there during graduate school, so I am sucker for anything about the Renaissance and Florence. I have read and studied about this era for years, taught it in my college classes in art history and humanities, and really picked up this book just to freshen up my knowledge for a guest lecture I was invited to give. It was compelling reading and I learned many new things, particularly about the lives of the two featured artists, Lorenzo Ghiberti (who knew this wasn't his real last name) and Filippo Brunelleschi (never realized he was stepping down a class to become an artist). The prose was lively and engaging, but grounded in good scholarship about the period. Before I read this book, Ross King's Brunelleschi's Dome was my favorite to recommend to my freshmen and sophomores. However, after reading this, it has shot to the top of my list for the wealth of historical detail it includes and for bringing this detail to life in recounting the feud that really did spark the Renaissance.

Filippo Brunelleschi and Lorenzo Ghiberti were Italian artists in the early 1400s. They were rivals, they competed for the same jobs, and sometimes they worked together. Their art marks the beginning of the Renaissance. The Feud That Sparked the Renaissance was often textbooky and I occasionally found my eyes to be glazing over as I read. But I learned so incredibly much. I’ve never been particularly into art so so much of it was new to me. I recommend reading this book to anyone interested in art and the early Renaissance.

This is a great book. It reads like a wonderful adventure story but it is factual. The story begins with the events that lead to the onset of the Renaissance, a time of great human triumph. It shows us the human side of Filippo Brunelleschi. Young, up and coming goldsmith, Brunelleschi loses the competition for the Doors of the Florentine Baptistery. Defeat does not stop him. He goes on to become a larger than life Renaissance Architect accomplishing feats unimaginable at the time.This book is very well written. You will be surprised and inspired. I have read the book several times. Yes, it is that good.

An engaging treatment of the rivalry between two creative giants. This book takes you into the time period and opens the world of the early Renaissance to the modern reader. The author's thorough scholarship makes Brunelleschi & Ghiberti more real than do the work of some others and yields a true feel for both the time period and the individuals involved. If you love history, art or architecture you will enjoy this book!

Should be a must reading before a trip to Florence, Italy. Phenomenal book.

Gives a very approachable, non-academic presentation of the lives of Brunelleschi, Ghiberti, and some of the other major artists of the Renaissance, and a glimpse into what daily life was like and how the government operated during that time. Also beautiful photographs of some statues and architecture.

If you are interested in the Italian Renassiance then this is a page turner. Really enjoyed it and was sorry when I came to the end. Covers the stories of both Brunelleschi and Ghiberti in some depth and really 'fleshes' their characters out. Excellent.