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 so