Renaissance skin

Evelyn Welch is Professor of Renaissance Studies at the University of Bristol. Her book Shopping in the Renaissance: Consumer Cultures in Italy, 1400–1600 was a winner of the 2006 Wolfson History Prize. Her other publications include Making and Marketing Medicine in Renaissance Florence (2011) and Fashioning the Early Modern: Dress, Textiles and Innovation in Europe, 1500–1800 (2017).

From the winner of the 2006 Wolfson History Prize."This richly detailed and beautifully illustrated book examines and analyses the topic of ‘Renaissance Skin’, defined in the broadest terms. This marvellous book is not only a fascinating read but also makes important contributions to the history of the body, art history, cultural history, the history of medicine, the history of craft and artisanal knowledge, and much more.” - Elaine Leong, UCL"Even in the innovative world of skin studies, no other scholar has framed the history of skin to include both human and animal skin. Welch’s work comparing and contrasting human and animal skins - as encountered both off and on the body - is wholly original... Given the current wave of good scholarship on the history of skin, this book could not come at a better time. It will show scholars how to connect subfields such as the history of the senses, the medical history of skin, and representing flesh in the history of art." - Craig Koslofsky, University of Illinois “A remarkable book… rich in interdisciplinary research and analysis.”Francis Ames Lewis, The Burlington Magazine

• Part I: Skin as Surface1 Period Skins2 Reading Skin3 Broken Skin4 Ugly SkinPart II: Skin as Matter5 Porous Skin6 Skin & Sweat7 Skinning Cats & Dogs8 Kitchen Skins Part III: Skin as Knowledge9 Skin Dissected10 Skin Magnified 11 Visible Skin 12 Itchy Skin BibliographyIndex