Money and Beauty : Bankers, Botticelli and the Bonfire of the Vanities

This is a fascinating review of the works of Renaissance artists - and what they reveal about the birth of modern banking.

Masterpieces by Botticelli, Fra. Angelico, Piero del Pollaiolo, the Della Robbia family, and Lorenzo di Credi - the cream of Renaissance artists - show how the modern banking system developed in parallel alongside the most important artistic flowering in the history of the Western world. "Money and Beauty" recounts the birth of the modern banking system and of the economic boom that it triggered, providing a reconstruction of European life and the continent's economy from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance.

It also delves into the daily life of the families that controlled the banking system and the ongoing clash between spiritual and economic values that was such a feature of the period - and how this very convergence provided the ideal crucible for some of the leading artists of all time to flourish.