Devotion by Design

Jewel of an exhibition at the National Gallery exploring Italian altarpieces from before 1500.

Although many of the pictures were familiar from the gallery’s own collection they were shown in a way which made you look at them again and see them in their original context.

The first gallery looked at pictures which featured altarpieces to show how they were used in a liturgical setting. This was then backed up in the long room of the exhibition space by putting pieces with our labels on mock altars of the correct height for the picture. In particular this made the Signiorelli of the circumcision come to life and explained it’s off perspective and empty space at the bottom as is was display with a processional cross which filled the space.

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