The Italian Renaissance Courts: Introduction and the Malatesta

Excellent one day course organised by the London Art History Society and held at the Conway Halls looking at the history of the Italian courts and focusing on the Malatesta family.

The course was led by Geoffrey and Paula Nuttall who were clear and fascinating however a list of slides would have been useful follow up to check spellings etc. This course was the start of a series looking at the Italian courts so we started in the morning my looking at the history of Italy at this time and how the courts became so powerful in the late 14th and early 15th centuries.  I have always found this a confusing bit of history and for a brief moment I felt I understood the political machinations of the time but I’m not sure I could tell you now.

The second half of the morning outlined the culture of magnificence looking at how the courts used the arts to maintain and promote their image. Paula used a lot of images from Frederico de Montelfelcro to show how he wanted to be seen as a soldier and scholar. She talked about painting, clothes, tableware, tombs, palaces and so much more.

In the afternoon we focused on the much misrepresented Malatesta family who were based around Rimini. Geoffrey looked at the family who settled in other cities in the area and how they used art to establish their position. His best example was Pandolfo III in Fano who used Venetian artists and is the first recorded patron of Ghiberti.

To finished Paula looked at a specific piece, the Temple of Maletestiano in Rmini, a church built by Sigismondo to house his tomb. This is said to be the first church of the Italian Renaissance and the first to be designed by Alberti. We were led though what made the design Renaissance and the iconography of the detail. All done with great pictures.

All in all a really good day and I can’t wait to do the next one!