Painting in Florence and Siena after the Black Death

"That there is a relation between art and the society in which it is produced has been accepted as axiomatic by a large number of modern historians... To demonstrate (this) in detail is, however, extraordinarily difficult.... It is therefore an unusual pleasure to find a history of art such as Millard Meiss's Painting in Florence and Siena after the Black Death in which the author, while admitting that 'each art has a certain rationale and momentum of its own,' seeks to illuminate his subject by a careful consideration not only of the literature but also of the economic, social, and political circumstances and events of the period, and in doing so shows a thorough acquaintance with the work of the best recent specialists in these alien fields." -- Wallace K. Ferguson, The Art Bulletin (back cover). "He relates the artistic themes to the changing moral and religious moods of the second half of the fourteenth century. It is his contention that the crisis of the forties - the bank failures, famines, political and social upheavals, and, above all, the Black Death - wrought not only spiritual but artistic responses. Through a detailed analysis of individual works of art he demonstrates that the renewed religiosity and the loss of optimism that marked the early Trecento was reflected in Florentine and Sienese painting.... This pioneering study clearly shows the integration of art with all other aspects of life. It helps destroy the too common impression that the history of art is an isolated and compartmentalized phenomenon." -- William M. Bowsky (back cover).