ABSTRACT
During the fi fteenth century the Renaissance was the
dominant cultural force in Florence (3.1). Then, as today,
Florence was a city of art. But it was also an intellectual
and mercantile center, and these factors converged with
new efforts to integrate the arts into the social fabric of
the city. In the last decades of the fourteenth century and
the early years of the fi fteenth, the humanist movement
gained momentum. This new approach to the world
included the conviction that human development and
achievement were paramount in the creation of a secure
and virtuous state.
