Perhaps the single most revolutionary aspect of the Renaissance was the re-emergence of the gods & goddesses of antiquity. In the midst of Christian Europe artists began to decorate luxury goods with scandalous stories from classical mythology & rulers to identify themselves with the deities of ancient religion. The resulting fusion of erotic fantasy & political power changed the course of Western art & produced many of its most magical & subversive works. The first book ever to survey this extraordinary phenomenon in its entirety The Mirror of the Gods" takes the story from the Renaissance to the Baroque. Each chapter focuses on a particular god (Diana Apollo Hercules Venus Bacchus Jupiter) & recounts the tales about that deity not as they appear in classical literature but as they were re-created by artists such as Botticelli Titian Bernini & Rembrandt. & yet this is not a book simply about painting & sculpture. It is an attempt to re-imagine the entire designed world of the Renaissance where the gods also appeared in carnival floats & in banquet displays & entertained the public in the form of snow men & fireworks. This rich & original new portrait of the Renaissance will ensure that readers never see the period in quite the same way again."