LONDON, ENGLAND.- The riches of the Renaissance interior, and its central role in the flowering of Italian art and culture, will be the subject of a V&A exhibition this autumn. Masterpieces by Donatello, Carpaccio, Filippo Lippi, Botticelli, Lotto, Titian and Veronese, and exquisite treasures once in the Medici collections, will show how works of art were originally conceived for affluent Renaissance homes.

At Home in Renaissance Italy will focus on the main rooms – the sala (reception room), camera (bedroom) and scrittoio (study) – of a wealthy urban interior. With displays of furniture, paintings, textiles, tapestries and decorative arts from the palazzi of Tuscany and the Veneto, the exhibition will present a fresh look at the Renaissance from the perspective of household life.

An exhibition of rooms and rituals, At Home in Renaissance Italy will feature fascinating everyday objects such as steel corsets, harpsichords, gambling games, dining utensils, protective amulets, spectacles and even a baby-walker. Together they will bring to life the daily activities of Renaissance living – from entertainment and cooking, to marriage, childhood and collecting.

The exhibition will guide the visitor from the sala through to the camera and on to the scrittoio. A highlight is a section devoted to Piero and Lorenzo de’ Medici’s study in their Florentine palace. It brings together the surviving documented artefacts from the study, including Luca Della Robbia’s roundels which were mounted in the vaulted ceiling. Splendid illuminated manuscripts, cameos and the study’s only surviving painting – Van Eyck’s Saint Jerome in His Study (c. 1435) – will also be on display. A more personal touch will be the painted tray made for Lorenzo de’Medici’s birth.

Marta Ajmar-Wollheim, co-curator of the exhibition, said, “This exhibition highlights for the first time the central role the domestic interior played in Italian Renaissance art and culture. It shows that the Renaissance was not only the product of the city, court and church – emphasising instead the crucial contribution of the homes of the merchants and professional middle classes.”

Flora Dennis, co-curator of the exhibition, said, “Many of the fine art objects we now associate with the Renaissance began their lives within a domestic setting. The aim of this exhibition is to place these beautiful items within their original context and look afresh at the Renaissance through the prism of household life and everyday objects.”

Highlights:

- A section devoted to the famous study in the Palazzo Medici in Florence, including Luca Della Robbia’s roundels (originally displayed in the vaulted ceiling), and artefacts from the family’s collection.
- The re-uniting, after centuries of separation, of Paolo Veronese’s spectacular double portrait of the da Porto-Thiene family (one of the grandest Renaissance families in Vicenza) which hung in their home – Palladio’s Palazzo da Porto.
- The earliest Italian portrait within an interior setting, the Portrait of a Man and Woman at a Casement (c. 1440-44) by Filippo Lippi.
- The Birth of the Virgin painting (c. 1504-8) by Vittore Carpaccio, depicting an extraordinary succession of rooms.
- Surprising survivals from everyday Renaissance life – including the only known baby-walker, the earliest surviving Italian spectacles, embroidered sheets and unexpected items such as a pastry-cutter and an earcleaner.
- Sisters playing Chess (c. 1555) by Sofonisba Anguissola – an intimate family scene by one of the few prominent female artists of the period.
- Rare examples of Renaissance furniture, including a 16th-century inlaid table that has never left the family and a Florentine painted wedding chest, now exhibited for the first time outside of Italy.

Exhibition structure: The exhibition will be structured around the three main living areas of the Italian home in Tuscany and the Veneto – the sala (reception room), the camera (the bedroom) and the scrittoio (study). The exhibition’s layout will mirror the progression of the visitor through a Renaissance house, from the more “inclusive” spaces to the more “exclusive”. Displays will explore the relationship between space, furnishing and objects for each room, and highlight the aesthetic differences and cultural affinities between the two Italian regions. Related objects will evoke the activities and rituals associated with each room.

The sala – As the principal room in the household where the family would have normally dined and received guests, this was the public face of the Renaissance home. It was thus conspicuously decorated and furnished to emphasise the status and importance of the family. A monumental fireplace and wall-fountain will be key features of the Tuscan display, while the Veneto will feature paintings and tapestries. Objects from the kitchen, including cooking pots, wooden spoons and food-warmers, will also be on display.

The camera – Sleeping, devotion and family rituals connected to marriage, birth and death took place in the bedroom. Gilded wall-hangings, rich textiles and reflective metalwork will suggest the luminosity of the Venetian camera d’oro. The inclusion of Lorenzo Lotto’s Portrait of Lucia Brembati (1518) with its allusions to pregnancy will represent birth and fertility, while portrait busts will symbolise mortality. Children’s books, games and portraits will feature, highlighting the role of the young in the continuity of the family.

The scrittoio – The centrepiece will be a section on the Medici study, with additional displays illustrating how the study was a place for business and contemplation. Illuminated manuscripts, fountain pens, inkwells and spectacles will be amongst the objects on display. Antonello de Messina’s portrait of St Jerome will evoke the scholarly pursuits that took place there.

The exhibition – Leonardo: Experience, Experiment and Design (14 September 2006 – 7 January 2007) – will run in tandem with At Home in Renaissance Italy. The exhibition is jointly curated by Marta Ajmar-Wollheim and Flora Dennis of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. The exhibition is designed by the Dutch company Opera 3D.