This is a study of a Renaissance artist and his patrons, but with an added complication, insofar as Leone de' Sommi, the gifted academician and playwright in the employ of the dukes of Mantua in the second half of the sixteenth century, was Jewish and a lifelong promoter and protector of his community. The article deals with the complex relationship between the court and the Jewish "università" concerning the drama and the way in which dramatic performances also became part of the political, judicial and social negotiations between the two parties, as well as a study of Leone's role as playwright and negotiator during a period that was arguably one of the best of times for the Jews of Mantua.
Martin Wackernagel, The World of the Florentine Renaissance Artist. Projects and Patrons, Workshop and Art Market, trans. by Alison Luchs. Princeton (n.j.), Princeton University Press, 1981. xxx + 447 pp., $37.50 (cloth), $14.50 (paper) Bruce Cole, The Renaissance Artist at Work. From Pisano to Titian. New York. Harper and Row, 1983. viii + 216 pp., 110 illus., $28.95 (cloth)
