The Material Renaissance:Costs and Consumption in Italy 1300-1650
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Grant Holder:
Professor Evelyn Welch
"The project explored:
• The comparative prices of different types of goods in Italy over both time and place
• The market for domestic goods such as food and clothing
• The market for objects now considered 'art', particularly panel paintings, metalwork and antiquities
The project aimed to investigate whether the relationship between the marketplace and individual or institutional artistic patronage changed between the 14th and the 17th centuries. We were particularly interested in asking whether art objects were, as is usually assumed, bought and sold in ways that distinguished them from other commodities. In addition we questioned the gendered nature of Renaissance consumption, examining how social communities of buyers and sellers were formed, and exploring the different means by which objects were acquired in courts and republican communities" (from project web site: please see for more details).
| Project start date: 2001-01 | Project end date: 2003-06 |
Subject domains:
Era(s):
Country/region(s):
| Methods used | Category |
|---|---|
| Data modelling | Data structuring and enhancement |
| Manual input and transcription | Data capture |
Funding sources:
Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), Getty Grant Program
Content types created:
Dataset/structured data, Text
Software tools used:
Microsoft Access, Visual Basic
Source material used:
The database is available for download from the AHDS.
"The database aimed to capture three mains kinds of information:
* Wages
* Exchange rates
* Values
It was designed to allow those who are interested in networks of buyers, sellers, intermediaries, etc., to keep track of the various individuals they encountered in documents, to help them track the careers of those individuals. Part of the challenge of creating the database has been in respecting the subtleties of the data (imprecise dates, values recorded in combinations of two different moneys at the same time, payments made in cash or in kind or both at the same time, etc.), at the same time as ensuring that data-entry is not onerous, and rigid standards of consistency can be applied to the data as it is entered, in order to prevent incomplete or spurious results being returned from searches. The plethora of different moneys and units of measurement in use in Italy over the period in question are an additional problem.
The database has been written in Microsoft Access 97, selected as an easily-available database capable of running under various versions of Windows (and thus on project members' own machines) already in use at the University of Sussex, where the central database was maintained. However, performing the various calculations required in order to reduce different moneys and units of measurement to comparable figures using Access necessitated a fair degree of programming using Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) by Dr Rupert Shepherd". (see project web site for more details).
Digital resource created:
"We each brought a variety of materials and skills to this aspect of the project: Datasets include:
• Altar piece prices in Italy, provided by Michelle O'Malley
•The account books of Cardinal Ippolito d'Este, provided by Mary Hollingsworth
• Elizabeth Currie, Barbara Furlotti, Giorgia Mancini Ann Matchette, Paola Biasin and Philippa Woodcock brought further information through their research.
• Rupert Shepherd worked with each scholar and in the relevant archives to pool team material, creating a relational database with two main types of information: exchange rates and wage/price information".
Access to digital resource:
Open Access
Data Formats created:
Microsoft Access Database (MDB)
Publications:
O'Malley, M. and Welch, E. (2007), 'The Material Renaissance', Manchester, Manchester University Press.
O'Malley, M., (2007) 'The Business of Art', New Haven and London, Yale Universiy Press.
Welch, E., (2005).'Shopping in the Renaissance', New Haven and London, Yale University Press.
Hollingsworth, M. (2004) "The Cardinal's Hat", London: Profile Books.
Mueller, R.C. (1997) 'The Venetian Money Market: Banks, panics and the public debt' IN F.C. Lane and R.C. Mueller (eds.) "Money and banking in Medieval and Renaissance Venice, vol. 2", Baltimore and London: John Hopkins University Press.
Biasin, P. (2002) "L'amministrazione dell'ospedale di Santa Maria dei Battuti di Treviso nel secondo '500 tra crisi e routine", Tesi di laurea: Universita Ca' Foscari di Venezia.
O'Malley, M., (2007) 'The Business of Art', New Haven and London, Yale Universiy Press.
Welch, E., (2005).'Shopping in the Renaissance', New Haven and London, Yale University Press.
Hollingsworth, M. (2004) "The Cardinal's Hat", London: Profile Books.
Mueller, R.C. (1997) 'The Venetian Money Market: Banks, panics and the public debt' IN F.C. Lane and R.C. Mueller (eds.) "Money and banking in Medieval and Renaissance Venice, vol. 2", Baltimore and London: John Hopkins University Press.
Biasin, P. (2002) "L'amministrazione dell'ospedale di Santa Maria dei Battuti di Treviso nel secondo '500 tra crisi e routine", Tesi di laurea: Universita Ca' Foscari di Venezia.
Institutions affiliated with this project:
| UK HE institutions involved: |
|---|
| University of Warwick |
| University of Sussex |
| University of Edinburgh |
| University of Manchester |
| UK HE institutions involved: |
|---|
| Università Ca' Foscari di Venezia and Università Luigi Bocconi |
| Milan |
Project staff and expertise:
| Principal staff member: | Dr Evelyn Welch; Dr Patricia Allerston; Dr Suzanne B Butters; Dr Guido Guerzoni; Dr Mary Hollingsworth; Dr Luca Mola; Professor Reinhold C Mueller |
|---|---|
| Other staff: | |
| External expertise: |
| Metadata on this arts-humanities.net record | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) of record | Evelyn Welch |
| Title | The Material Renaissance:Costs and Consumption in Italy 1300-1650 |
| Record created | 2007-07-20 |
| Record updated | 2011-01-14 16:33 |
| URL of record | http://www.arts-humanities.net/node/2118 |
| Citation of record | Evelyn Welch: The Material Renaissance:Costs and Consumption in Italy 1300-1650. <http://www.arts-humanities.net/node/2118> created: 2007-07-20, last updated 2011-01-14 16:33 |