"This beautifully illustrated book is the first to look at the role of the urban Italian house in the development of Renaissance art and culture. "The Renaissance Home" brings together a wide range of objects, from furniture and kitchen utensils to popular prints, jewellery and everyday dress, to reveal how the homes of the upper- and middle-classes made a crucial contribution to the flowering of the visual arts in 15th- and 16th-century Italy. Drawing on a wide array of sources including inventories, account-books, letters, treatises, and archaeological and conservation reports, it offers a completely fresh exploration of the fascinating domestic world of Renaissance Italy."

This beautifully illustrated book is the first to look so comprehensively at the role of the urban Italian house in the development of Renaissance art and culture. The Renaissance Home brings together a wide range of objects, from furniture and kitchen utensils to popular prints, jewellery and everyday dress, revealing how the homes of the upper- and middle-classes made a crucial contribution to the flowering of the visual arts in 15th- and 16th-century Italy. Drawing on a wide array of sources including letters, treatises, inventories, account-books and archaeological and conservation reports, it offers a completely fresh exploration of the fascinating domestic world of Renaissance Italy. Leading specialists in the field explore such topics as regional variations in structure and appearance, and the role of non-Western objects in decorative schemes. The Renaissance Home will have a life far beyond the exhibition, becoming a key work of reference for students of art and design, history and archaeology and anyone with an interest in the culture of the Italian Renaissance.

The Sacred Home in Renaissance Italy explores the rich devotional life of the Italian household between 1450 and 1600. Rejecting the enduring stereotype of the Renaissance as a secular age, this interdisciplinary study reveals the home to have been an important site of spiritual revitalization. Books, buildings, objects, spaces, images, and archival sources are scrutinized to cast new light on the many ways in which religion infused daily life within the household. Acts of devotion, from routine prayers to extraordinary religious experiences such as miracles and visions, frequently took place at home amid the joys and trials of domestic life — from childbirth and marriage to sickness and death. Breaking free from the usual focus on Venice, Florence, and Rome, The Sacred Home investigates practices of piety across the Italian peninsula, with particular attention paid to the city of Naples, the Marche, and the Venetian mainland. It also looks beyond the elite to consider artisanal and lower-status households, and reveals gender and age as factors that powerfully conditioned religious experience. Recovering a host of lost voices and compelling narratives at the intersection between the divine and the everyday, The Sacred Home offers unprecedented glimpses through the keyhole into the spiritual lives of Renaissance Italians.

Discover what life was like for ordinary people in Renaissance Italy through this unique resource that paints a full portrait of everday living.

English translations of the author's most important articles.