Howard, P., Creating Magnificence in Renaissance Florence: [Review]

Peter Howard’s compelling study focuses on St. Antoninus Pierozzi (1389–1459) as a central protagonist in the shaping of the concept of magnificence in Florentine culture. Known as a preacher, author, reformer, priest, administrator, judge, and finally as an archbishop of the city, Antoninus was part of the city’s patronage network and a friend and consultant to Cosimo de Medici. Analyzing previously unpublished sermons and the influential Summa Theologica, Howard employs the lens of the discipline of sermon studies to examine Antoninus’s explanation of the concept of magnificence within the preaching mentality of Renaissance Florence. The book has six lucidly written chapters and an appendix of translations of the primary sources, which should prove very useful to scholars interested in the field.