Emotions, Passions, and Power in Renaissance Italy: Renaissance History, Art and Culture

Everyone has the capacity for emotions. But the way emotions are perceived, expressed, and shared—that is determined by the rules imposed by the society of the time, along with language, cultural practices, expectations, and moral beliefs. In this fascinating look at the interplay of power with public and private emotions in fifteenth-century Italy, Fabrizio Ricciardelli, Andrea Zorzi, and their contributors show that emotions are created by the society in which they are expressed and conditioned. Exploring a variety of official discourses, cultural phenomena, and artifacts, the essays here examine everything from the emotional language of the court to the emotions that arose during times of public executions or outbreaks of disease.