Materialized Identities in Early Modern Culture, 1450–1750. Objects, Affects, Effects

Abstract

A few years ago, the Bavarian National Museum held an exhibition about purses in modern Europe. Familiar images, such as Renaissance portraits, were made new again by focusing on the overlooked detail of purses. I will never think of purses in paintings the same way again! This object-centred exhibition enabled me to delve into the theoretical and practical meaning of a seemingly mundane thing. This is the kind of delight in discovery that I experienced many times while reading the eight essays in this richly illustrated volume. Materialized Identities is the product of four years of collaborative research on the topic of early modern European materiality by historians, art historians and museum professionals. The chapters are organized by the four material themes of glass, feathers, gold paint and veils, which correspond to fundamental sensory qualities that attracted early modern Europeans: lustre, translucency, transparency and shimmer. During the period under study, artists and artisans reached new heights of skill and developed technologies while adapting and incorporating materials from the Americas. Both producers’ capacity and consumers’ new material sensibilities shaped theoretical discourses as well as consumption behaviours.