This introductory lecture sets the stage for our journey through Quattrocento Florence, a city that functioned as the incubator for the modern Western imagination. We will define the chronological and thematic boundaries of the course, tracing the arc from the civic optimism of the 1401 Baptistery competition to the spiritual anxieties of the Savonarolan era. By surveying the political structure of the Republic, the rise of the Medici dynasty, and the pivotal role of the guild system, we will establish the socio-economic context that allowed artists like Brunelleschi, Donatello, and Botticelli to thrive. The session will introduce foundational concepts such as humanism, linear perspective, and disegno, providing the critical toolkit needed to understand how a small Tuscan merchant city became the artistic capital of Europe.