Giannozzo Manetti was one of the most remarkable figures of the Italian Renaissance, though today his works are unfamiliar in English. In this authoritative biography, the first ever in English, ...David Marsh guides readers through the vast range of Manetti’s writings, which epitomized the new humanist scholarship of the quattrocento.
An introduction to one of the premier humanists of the Italian Renaissance, whose extraordinary work in biography, politics, religion, and philosophy has been largely unknown to Anglophone readers. A ...celebrated orator, historian, philosopher, and statesman, Giannozzo Manetti (1396–1459) was one of the most remarkable figures of the Italian Renaissance. The son of a wealthy Florentine merchant, he was active in the public life of the Florentine republic and embraced the new humanist scholarship of the Quattrocento.Among his many contributions, Manetti translated from classical Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, bringing attention to great works of the ancient world that were previously unknown. He also offered a humanist alternative to the Vulgate Bible by translating into Latin the Greek text of the New Testament and the Hebrew Psalms. His other works included biographies of Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio; A Translator's Defense, an indispensable treatise on the art of translation; and Against the Jews and the Gentiles, an apologia for Christianity.Manetti is most remembered for his treatise On Human Worth and Excellence, a radical defense of human nature and of the new world view of Renaissance humanism. In this authoritative biography, the first ever in English, David Marsh guides readers through the vast range of Manetti's writings, which, despite growing scholarly interest, are still largely unfamiliar to the English-speaking world. Marsh's fresh appraisal makes clear why Manetti must be considered among the great expositors of the spirit of his age.
Greek studies were central to the movement of fifteenth‐century Italian humanism, as the humanists claimed themselves. But before 1450, Greek manuscripts were scarce, and many humanists were more ...enthusiastic about learning the language in theory than in practice. The case of Giannozzo Manetti (1396–1459) helps us understand the nature of humanist Greek studies in practice in this period. My study of Manetti's Greek skills is based on his collection of Greek manuscripts, which have been preserved as a set among the Palatini graeci in the Vatican Library. I compare the way he collected and used his Greek manuscripts with his use of Greek sources in his Latin writings. Whereas Manetti hardly used Greek sources in the 1430s and 1440s, after 1450 he produced new Latin translations from the Greek. I suggest that this change could result from a sudden improvement in his Greek skills, but also from a different modus operandi in the case of his original Latin compositions as opposed to his translations.
den Haan reviews Against the Jews and the Gentiles, Books I-IV by Giannozzo Manetti and edited by Stefano U. Baldassarri and Daniela Pagliara and translated David Marsh.
Mazzocco reviews Famous Women by Giovanni Boccacio, edited and translated by Virginia Brown; Momus by Leon Battista Alberti, edited by Virginia Brown and S. Knight, who also translated the book; and ...Biographical Writings by Giannozzo Manetti, edited and translated by Stefano Ugo Baldassari and Rolf Bagemihl.
Zabrowski reviews Latin translation in the Renaissance: the theory and practice of Leonardo Bruni, Giannozzo Manetti, and Desiderius Erasmus by Paul Botley.
