The Merchant of Prato by Iris Origo

The Merchant of Prato by Iris Origo

This extraordinary re-creation of the life of a medieval Italian merchant, Francesco di Marco Datini, is one of the greatest historical portraits written in the twentieth century. Drawing on an astonishing cache of letters unearthed centuries after Datini's death, it reveals to us a shrewd, enterprising, anxious man, as he makes deals, furnishes his sumptuous house, buys silks for his outspoken young wife and broods on his legacy. It is an unequalled source of knowledge about the texture of daily life in the small, earthy, violent, striving world of fourteenth-century Tuscany. 'Datini has now probably become most intimately accessible figure of the later Middle Ages ... brilliant and intricate' The Times 'As a picture of Tuscany before the dawn of the Renaissance it is a complement to The Decameron' Sunday Times

Francesco di Marco Datini, the fourteenth-century Tuscan merchant who forms the subject of Origo's brilliant study, has now probably become the most intimately accessible figures of the later Middle Ages.. paints, in brilliant and intricate detail, a picture of Italian domestic life on the eve of the Renaissance * The Times *
As a picture of the daily round in Tuscany before the dawn of the Renaissance it is a complement to The Decameron * Sunday Times *

Iris Origo, the Marchesa Origo (1902-1988) was an American writer who lived in Southern Tuscany. Her other books include War in the Val d'Orcia, Leopardi and The Last Attachment.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780241293928
ISBN 10	0241293928
Title	The Merchant of Prato
Author	Iris Origo
Series	Penguin Modern Classics
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Penguin Books Ltd
Year published	2017-05-04
Number of pages	400
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.