Evelyn Welch presents a fresh picture of Italian art between the 'Black Death' in the mid-fourteenth century and the French invasions at the end of the fifteenth. In it, Florence is no longer the only important centre of artistic activity but takes its place alongside other equally interesting and varied cities of the Italian peninsula.

Oil paintings are examined alongside frescos, tapestries, sculptures in bronze and marble, manuscript illuminations, objects in precious metals, and a wide range of other works.

Evelyn Welch explains artistic techniques and workshop practices, and discusses contextual issues such as artist-patron relationships, political and religious uses of art, and the ways in which visual imagery related to contemporary sexual and social behaviour. Above all she recreates the dramatic experiences of contemporary Italians - the patrons who commissioned the works, the members of the public who viewed them, and the artists who produced them.