ABSTRACT
The material culture of Italian Renaissance life encompassed objects as diverse as monumental fresco cycles, sculpted portrait busts, and domestic devotional tabernacles, as well as decorative and functional maiolica, painted furniture, both daily and festive clothing, and innumerable objects in between; all had a prominent place in the construction of individual, familial, and corporate identity. These objects increased in variety and number during the Renaissance, in ways we are only now beginning to understand; indeed, after many years of scholarly neglect the demands and patterns of consumption in this pre-industrial age have become subjects of close study. Although a surprising number of objects survive, few do so in their original settings and a great many of them are lost, understood today only through vague or indecipherable references in inventories, diaries, or letters, comments in literature or legislation, or representations in contemporary paintings, prints, or sculptures.
