'Through the masterpieces produced by artists ranging from Michelangelo and Leonardo to Rembrandt, Rubens, and Vermeer, Europe's Renaissance and Baroque period grew into one of the most
creative times in world history. A Companion to Renaissance and Baroque Art presents a comprehensive collection of interdisciplinary essays that address major aspects of European visual arts
produced from approximately 1300 to 1700, a period of artistic flourishing that many consider the beginning of modern history. Theseessays, however, transcend the traditional period labels of
'Renaissance' and 'Baroque' by addressing works from Duccio and Chaucer to Velazquez and Newton as a single continuum, inclusive in terms of both disciplinary and geographical boundaries, as an
era best characterized as 'early modern.''--
