Who are the sculptors?
Cole: They are mostly anonymous. A lot of them are French and Italian. I have just a couple of signed pieces. They are not something that people really collect very much. I wanted to say something more about the Renaissance. I always thought Id like to write a book called The Other Renaissance. Our idea of the Renais-sance as taking place in Florence, Venice, and Rome was really constructed by Giorgio Vasari, who wrote this enormously influential book, The Lives of the Most Famous Painters, Sculptors and Architects, first in 1550 and then, in an enlarged edition, in 1568. Vasari was Tuscan and he was the greatest public relations person for Florence. He gave us our notion of the Renaissance as centered in Florence and Rome, with a nod to Venice. Thats why when you go to Italy today and you go to Florence, you cant get anywhere near the David, or you are crushed by tourists in the Sistine Chapel. But if you go anywhere else, like Modena or Ferrara or Parma, which were all important cent
