Sunday, 2 April 2006 | Elif Sungur
At Home in Renaissance Italy
This major exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum will present a new way of looking at the 'Renaissance' by showing how the urban homes of Renaissance Italy made a crucial contribution to the flowering of the visual arts. Many of the paintings, sculpture and decorative art objects we associate with the Italian Renaissance were originally intended for the domestic interior. Yet it is unusual for these objects to be displayed in a manner that evokes their original role as part of the aesthetic ensemble that constituted the household.
The exhibition will explore the relationship between spaces, people and objects within the Renaissance home. It will be structured as a visit to the principal rooms of an Italian palazzo. Through paintings and objects, such as rich textiles, beautiful ceramics and refined furniture, the exhibition will present the house as a setting for a wide range of domestic activities. From a steaming kitchen in which a sumptuous meal is prepared, to a luxurious bed-chamber set up for a newly wed couple, to a secluded study filled with rare artefacts and treasured family papers, the visitor will experience the beauty and excitement of everyday life in the Renaissance home.
A two-year period of research for this exhibition has been possible thanks to funding from the Getty Grant Program, the Arts and Humanities Research Board and the Victoria and Albert Museum. It involves work by an international and interdisciplinary team of scholars, drawn from Britain, Italy and the United States.
The exhibition will take place between 5 October 2006 and 7 January 2007.
For further information, please visit http://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/future_ex...ance/index.html
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