In this vivid account Scott Nethersole examines the remarkable period of cultural, artistic and intellectual blossoming in Florence from ca.1400 to 1520 – the period traditionally known as the Early and High Renaissance. He looks at the city and its art with fresh eyes, presenting the well-known within a wider context of cultural reference. Key works of art – from painting, sculpture and architecture to illuminated manuscripts – by artists such as Michelangelo, Donatello, Botticelli and Brunelleschi are showcased alongside the unexpected and less familiar.