Timothy McCall is Associate Professor of Art History at Villanova University. He is a coeditor of Visual Cultures of Secrecy in Early Modern Europe and the forthcoming six-volume series A Cultural History of Luxury.
“With this vivid account of fifteenth-century fashion, McCall has
given us thrilling new ways to interpret the politics, gender
posturing, and art of Renaissance Italy. Bringing new light to such
well-known historical figures and events—and from such a surprising
angle and with so much delicacy in the details of the prose—is what
makes Brilliant Bodies a remarkable achievement.”—Emanuele Lugli,
author of The Making of Measure and the Promise of Sameness
“Readers who worry that McCall’s book might be an academic affair
directed toward art historians, costume scholars, archivists, and
other specialists need not fear: the chapters are beautifully
illustrated, the writing is accessible, the argument is clearly
developed with a critical eye toward current debates on gender,
identity, and the symbolic valorization of whiteness, or
‘brilliance,’ in the courts of early Renaissance Europe, where
aristocratic men and women regularly bleached their hair blond,
powdered their hands and faces white, and embellished their
clothing with shimmering metallic threads and gems that made their
bodies glow like the sun.”—Maria H. Loh Art in America
“Readers who worry that McCall’s book might be an academic affair
directed toward art historians, costume scholars, archivists, and
other specialists need not fear: the chapters are beautifully
illustrated, the writing is accessible, the argument is clearly
developed with a critical eye toward current debates on gender,
identity, and the symbolic valorization of whiteness.”—Maria H. Loh
Art in America
“Specialists have long awaited the publication of [McCall’s] book,
which will turn into an instant classic in the field.”—Ulinka
Rublack Journal of Design History
“Lavishly illustrated and written in an accessible style, it is a
must-read for anyone interested in dress or the Renaissance
court.”—Sara van Dijk Virtus
“Beautiful, provocative, and stylishly written.”—Charlotte F.
Nichols Renaissance and Reformation
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