The Italian Renaissance (late 1300s to the early 1500s) was a period of astonishing developments in painting, sculpture, architecture and music. It was a time of great artists such as Giotto, Botticelli, Raphael, daVinci and Michelangelo. It was also a time of very wealthy families who not only vied with one another to be patrons of the arts, but also spent considerable effort trying to murder each other. A dangerous Age of Beauty indeed. In this course, we will explore the art and the politics of one of the most remarkable eras in World History — the Italian Renaissance.