At Home in Renaissance Italy

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"At Home in Renaissance Italy" (on exhibit at the V&A in London momentarily) reveals for the first time the Renaissance interior's central role in the flourishing of Italian art and culture. The exhibition provides an innovative three-dimensional view of the Italian Renaissance home, presented as object-filled spaces that bring the period to life. The exhibition showcases masterpieces by Donatello, Carpaccio, Botticelli, Titian and Veronese, and exquisite treasures from the Medici and other private collections, alongside unexpected everyday objects like a babywalker and a pair of velvet shoes.
(from th V&A website)

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source for the above pics: today's The Guardian, Review, pages 12 & 13

related online report in The Guardian: World of interiors

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I'm struck by the number of people in the Renaissance Interiors. Even allowing for a certain amount of artistic license, life would have been crowded.

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Noddy24 wrote:

I'm struck by the number of people in the Renaissance Interiors. Even allowing for a certain amount of artistic license, life would have been crowded.

Well, this obviously is a room of some noble persons - usually, people didn't have so much "spare room" in those days. (And normal people didn't have it until the early 20th century here in Europe.)

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Medieval and Renaissance times have charms, but privacy is not one of these charms.

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Wow, I love that kitchen scene!

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Noddy24 wrote:

Medieval and Renaissance times have charms, but privacy is not one of these charms.

Well, you should see some of the European houses of workers of last (20th) century ... (My wife grew up in one of those tiny houses - in the 50's/60's.)

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Even though the basic rules of perspective were given to be developed in the 15th century, It could be seen that the artists were still "working it out" by trial and error. The first painting almost looks like the people are floating about in space and the vanishing points are many. The second painting has the vanishing point established at the eye level of the old man and the red dressed handmaiden.

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Look at those outfits. Pretty stinkin' fancy.

The person who painted the kitchen picture could have been the great-great-great-great-great grandpappy of the advertisment. They're all well-dressed, going about they're domestic business, everyone seems reasonably content. Not a speck of 15th century dust or squalor, a modern kitchen. Splendid.

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I'd missed this in the Guardian, thanks for posting, Walter.

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Huh, I'm not as negative to McCarthy's Stones of Florence as the Guardian article. She's acerbic, but she did write a good book about the city. I read it a couple of times, but quite a while ago.

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There's a place at the V&A website where you can send ina pasta recipe - using only those ingredients available in renaissance times.

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For example, adapted from Cristoforo Messisbugo's 1549 cookbook, 'Banquets':

Quote:

Cake made with morello cherries, cherries, blackberries, melons or figs.

Take 1200 grams of morello cherries and cook them in white wine (the sweeter the wine, the better it will taste). Strain off the liquid and place the cherries in a dish with 300 grams of grated hard cheese, 240 grams of sugar, 30 grams of cinnamon, a quarter of an ounce of pepper, 300 grams of butter and 6 eggs. Mix well. As above, make your cake with 3 pastry sheets, placing 180 grams of butter on the top layer. Put this in the oven and when it has almost cooked sprinkle it with about 100 grams of sugar and allow it to finish cooking. In the same way you can make the same cake with cherries, blackberries or figs, though instead of cooking them in wine, fry them in butter, then strain off any excess liquid.

Vegetarian Mini Pancakes with Bitter Herbs for 6 people

Take a soup-plateful and a half of white flour, a little saffron, a glass of white wine, 60 grams of olive oil, enough water to mix with the flour, 90 grams of raisins and a handful of finely ground bitter herbs. Mix well. Heat 900 grams of oil in a frying pan and add a spoonful of the mixture at a time. To serve, top with 180 grams of clear honey and 120 grams of sugar.

Cheese and cinnamon? Fried fruit? Yum!

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I notice most of the people in the pictures are not what we would call thin nowadays.....

yay!

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At Home in Renaissance Italy

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