Initial S: The Conversion of Saint Paul (detail), about 1440–50, attributed to Pisanello and the Master of the Antiphonal Q of San Giorgio Maggiore. Tempera colors, gold leaf, gold paint, silver leaf, and ink on parchment. The J. Paul Getty Museum
Renaissance Splendors of the Northern Italian Courts
GETTY CENTER
North Pavilion, Plaza Level
The Renaissance courts of northern Italy, among the wealthiest and most sophisticated in Europe, attracted innovative artists who created objects of remarkable beauty. Princes and other nobles offered painters and illuminators favorable contracts and social prestige in return for lavishly decorated panels and books. These works prominently displayed their owners' scholarly learning, religious devotion, and elite status. Drawn from the Getty Museum's permanent collection of manuscripts, this exhibition celebrates the magnificent illuminations that emerged from this courtly context—an array of visual riches fit for the highest-ranking members of Renaissance society.
