Material Splendor in Renaissance Venice

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Part of the Gardiner Signature Lecture Series

At the crossroads of Europe and the Levant, Renaissance Venice was a centre of trade and a repository of goods from all over the world. The palaces of the nobility and wealthy citizens were filled with objects of foreign origin that reflected the Republic’s commercial supremacy, and claimed a family’s refinement, taste and civility.

This lecture will explore the place of ceramics among a vast range of luxuries including glass, metalwork and textiles. It will also highlight the importance of material exchange and cultural encounters in the development of the Venetian maiolica industry throughout the sixteenth century.

About the Speaker

Dr. Karine Tsoumis (MA, PH.D, Curator, Gardiner Museum)

Karine Tsoumis is a specialist in 16th-century Venetian art and culture, with a particular interest for material culture, the domestic space, and family history. She received her Masters’ Degree in Art History from McGill University, Montreal, and her Ph.D. from the University of Toronto with a dissertation entitled Bernardino Licinio: Portraiture, Kinship and Community in Renaissance Venice. As a curator at the Gardiner Museum, she works on temporary exhibitions and leads research on the permanent collection with a focus on Italian Renaissance maiolica.

Presented by Michele & Ryerson Symons

With support from the Helen E. Gardiner Memorial Fund

Co-Presenter

Image: The Feast of the Gods (Giovanni Bellini and Tiziano Vecelli), 1514 – 1529, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art