ABSTRACT
The painting constituted an assertion of the reach and significance of Florence in the emerging Atlantic world and global economy. Florence and the Medici, Jacopo Ligozzi’s image claimed, were players on the world stage. Despite the pre-eminence of Florence in twentieth-century analyses of Renaissance Italy, Anglophone scholarship has remained largely silent on the global significance asserted for the city in Ligozzi’s painting. Building upon the richness of the Archivio di Stato, the Biblioteca Nazionale, and many other libraries and archives in Florence, scholars revealed the intricacies of pre-modern urban life in vivid detail. One intriguing study publishes the letter collection of a Portuguese abbot living in fifteenth-century Florence, illustrative of the connections between the Atlantic kingdom and the Tuscan city. Such connections have been the most enduring focus for historical research into Renaissance Florence’s links with the wider world. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
