“Mais devant tous est le Lyon marchant”: Construction littéraire d’un milieu éditorial et livres de poésie française à Lyon (1536–1551). Elise Rajchenbach-Teller. Travaux d’Humanisme et Renaissance 560. Geneva: Droz, 2016. 598 pp. $98.40.
even if fewer in number, and how the monumentality of the High Renaissance was assimilated into manuscript illumination, notably in the work of Giulio Clovio. The following chapters are thematic. Chapter 6 is about hand illumination of early printed books. Alexander discusses here some outstanding examples of this short-lived genre, including the stunning volumes illuminated by Girolamo da Cremona and Benedetto Bordon for Peter Ugelheimer (183–88). In the following chapters, Alexander weaves together the research presented in the previous chapters to discuss general issues, such as methods of production, patronage, style, and the relationships between illumination and the other arts. The main strengths of Alexander’s book are, first, the very high standards of scholarship; second, the range of manuscripts included; and, third, the manner in which a panorama of illumination in Renaissance Italy is gradually built up by highlighting the most significant links in patronage and artistic developments across the peninsula. As to weaknesses, two matters, I believe, must be raised. First, the first four chapters would have benefited from including more discussion as to the influence of Netherlandish painting on Italian illumination, especially for Rome and Ferrara. Second, even if the scope of the book is limited to luxury manuscripts, it would have been useful for readers (especially for students) to be briefly introduced to the wider landscape of book production and consumption in fifteenth-century Italy. In relation to Florence, for instance, Alexander recognizes that his account “provides only an outline of the major commissions” (28), and mentions that “drawings . . . sometimes enriched with simple colour washes” and the use of paper are “a sign of a less expensive commission” (31). Alexander could have referred here, for example, to the study by Christian Bec, Les livres des florentins (1984), to show that even humble families owned one book or two; also, it would have been edifying to mention that many Florentines copied and illustrated manuscripts for their own use (see Dale Kent, Cosimo de Medici and the Florentine Renaissance [2000], 69–80). Nonetheless, despite these two minor weaknesses, The Painted Book in Renaissance Italy is a magnificent achievement and will remain a major reference work for many years to come.