Shopping in the Renaissance : consumer cultures in Italy 1400-1600

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Title:

Author:

Welch, Evelyn S., 1959-

ISBN:

9780300107524

Personal Author:

Welch, Evelyn S., 1959-

Publication Information:

New Haven : Yale University Press, 2005.

Physical Description:

ix, 403 p. : ill. (some col.), ports. ; 26 cm.

Contents:

1. Introduction -- Pt. 1. Seeing shopping -- 2. Markets and metaphors -- 3. Shopping and surveillance -- Pt. 2. The geography of expenditure -- 4. Time -- 5. Place -- Pt. 3. Acquisition and excitement -- 6. Fairs -- 7. Bidding and gambling -- Pt. 4. Renaissance consumers -- 8. Men in the marketplace -- 9. Shopping with Isabella d'Este -- Conclusion -- 10. Priceless.

Abstract:

"This book breaks new ground in the area of Renaissance material culture, focusing on the marketplace in its various aspects, ranging from middle-class to courtly consumption and from the provision of foodstuffs to the acquisition of antiquities and holy relics. It asks how men and women of different social classes went out into the streets, squares and shops to buy the goods they needed and wanted on a daily, or on a once-in-a-lifetime basis, during the Renaissance period." "Evelyn Welch looks first at the language that framed the explanations that contemporaries provided and she begins by exploring the long-standing metaphors and stereotypes used to describe the experience of the marketplace. Drawing on an impressively detailed mixture of archival, literary and visual sources, she exposes the fears, anxieties and social possibilities of the Renaissance marketplace, and gives concrete and vivid voice to the period.".

"In the second part of the book, Welch looks at the impact these attitudes had on the developing urban spaces of Renaissance cities, before turning to more transient forms of sales such as fairs, auctions and lotteries. In the third section, she examines the consumers themselves, asking how the mental, verbal and visual images of the market shaped the business of buying and selling. Finally, she explores two seemingly very different types of commodities: antiquities and indulgences, both of which posed dramatic challenges to contemporary notions of market value and to the concept of commodification itself."--BOOK JACKET.

Subject Term:

Consumers -- Italy -- History -- To 1500.

Consumers -- Italy -- History -- 16th century.

Shopping -- Italy -- History -- To 1500.

Shopping -- Italy -- History -- 16th century.

Electronic Access:

Table of contents http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip052/2004024095.html

Copies:

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Summary

Shopping was as important in the Renaissance as it is today. This fascinating and original book breaks new ground in the area of Renaissance material culture, focusing on the marketplace and such related topics as middle-class to courtly consumption, the provision of foodstuffs, and the acquisition of antiquities and holy relics. The book investigates how men and women of different social classes went to the streets, squares, and shops to buy goods they needed and wanted on a daily--or a once-in-a-lifetime--basis, during the Renaissance period.Evelyn Welch draws on wide-ranging sources to expose the fears, anxieties, and social possibilities of the Renaissance marketplace and to show the impact of these attitudes on developing urban spaces. She considers transient forms of sales such as fairs, auctions, and lotteries as well as consumers themselves. Finally, she explores antiquities and indulgences, both of which posed dramatic challenges to contemporary notions of market value and to the concept of commodification itself.