"Properly and newly built”: the changing face of the Renaissance residence

Interesting lecture at the Queen’s Gallery looking at what the interior of a Renaissance house might have looked like given by John Goodall, Architectural Editor of Country Life.

The lecture was to compliment the current Northern Renaissance exhibition and discussed the context of the art works in the exhibition. He reminded that most decorative works in this period were portable and moved round from house to house as you travelled.

He gave a good overview of the English Renaissance decorative style describing grotesques, strap work and marbling. He then led us on an imaginary walk through a house looking at what art and objects might have been in each room.

It was good to see English examples used for a change to show Renaissance style.

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