Goods of the worldLisa Jardine has written a very complete and easy to read book. The book, Worldly Goods, is a history of the Renaissance. The book provides interesting information about culture, art, music, science, business and human relations during the Renaissance. Beginning by examining art as the consumer good that it was, Jardine constructs a cultural history of the Renaissance. It presents the facts in an easy-to-follow and well-constructed manner. The most important point of the book is this: The pursuit of material goods and valuable goods, including religious and secular art, was a defining characteristic of the Renaissance period. This is the thesis of the book. The entire book is about how greedy and power-hungry men became during this period. The title WorldlyGoods is an indication of this. Rich men of the time were constantly in search of material goods, such as beautiful paintings, sculptures, marble, rare stones, porcelain, Chinese silk, London cloth, rich velvet and fine sculptures. These objects are hardly a symbol of the deeply religious era that we think of as the Renaissance. The aristocracy had to find ways to distinguish themselves from the commoners. Having lavish palaces filled with rare and expensive works of art is what they imagined. “The buyer identified an artist whose work he liked; his agent researched him and set terms.” (23) This is an indication of the trouble a rich man would go to to have something valuable. The artists themselves, as Jardine explains, were also inspired by wealth. The pre-existing ideas according to which the great artists of the time were influenced by humanism are completely destroyed by the author. ...... middle of article ...... aimed at the general public rather than academics. The language of the book helped me find the book enjoyable. However, this is not a book I would recommend to just anyone. I think readers who are genuinely interested in art, power, the Renaissance, or history would find this book enjoyable. It wasn't my favorite non-fiction book, but I enjoyed reading it. I gained incredible insight into the motivations of the Renaissance period from reading this book. I learned a lot about the duality of man, his need for acceptance and his humanitarian motivations. I learned that artists and art admirers of the time were not only concerned with the beauty of art, but also its monetary value, which continues in today's society . Jardine, Lisa Worldly Goods. Doubleday Dell Publishing Group New York, NY 1996. 470 pages.