The Early Modern Italian Domestic Interior, 1400-1700

Emphasizing on the one hand the reconstruction of the material culture of specific residences, and on the other, the way in which particular domestic objects reflect, shape, and mediate family values and relationships within the home, this volume offers a distinct contribution to research on the early modern Italian domestic interior. Though the essays mainly take an art historical approach, the book is interdisciplinary in that it considers the social implications of domestic objects for family members of different genders, age, and rank, as well as for visitors to the home. By adopting a broad chronological framework that encompasses both Renaissance and Baroque Italy, and by expanding the regional scope beyond Florence and Venice to include domestic interiors from less studied centers such as Urbino, Ferrara, and Bologna, this collection offers genuinely new perspectives on the home in early modern Italy.

Erin J. Campbell is Associate Professor of Art History at the University of Victoria, Canada. Stephanie R. Miller is Assistant Professor of Art History at Coastal Carolina University, USA. Elizabeth Carroll Consavari is Lecturer in Art History at San Jose State University, USA.

Introduction: Old women, portraiture, and the early modern domestic interior; Portraits of old women and the domestic meshwork; Prophets and saints; Matriarchs; Old women in frames; Old age, women, and the signs of suffering; Selected bibliography; Index.