Louisa C. Matthew

This project that focuses on six materials used by a wide variety of artisans and sold in the shops of the Venetian color-sellers during the Renaissance period. It examines these materials from various points of view, including the history of artisan practice, the history of technology and chemistry, analytical investigation through conservation science, and art and economic history, and asks if changes in the uses of and attitudes toward materials may provide new insights into the history of material culture during the Italian Renaissance.