Enfilade

Display of Art in Roman Palaces, 1550-1750
The Getty Center, Los Angeles, 2-3 December 2010

Rome—with its cardinals and international ambassadors to the papal court, its ancient barons and its newcomers trying to appear as if they descended from Caesar, all building, expanding, remodeling, and furnishing magnificent palaces, or trying to rent quarters befitting their needs and status—provided a powerful model for how the elites of Europe and beyond should live with an abundance of art. Here, display of art was calibrated to the ceremony of life and work in these great houses, to an etiquette and hierarchy that applied to every person, space, and thing.

This two-day conference is part of a Getty Research Institute research project on display in Roman houses from 1550 to 1750, two centuries that encompass the beginnings of collecting, as it is generally understood today, and the end of the “baroque,” by which time a very different concept of the interior had taken shape. Different media categories, moveable and immoveable—such as frescoes, cabinet pictures, tapestries, sculpture, and architecture—have been studied, yet little attention has been given to their integration into ensembles in which people conducted their lives. The wealth of microhistories on collecting allows for a broad-gauged analysis of display, and how it informed emerging concepts of art and art history. Conference presentations will explore the social and cultural context for display, the circuitry of production and the art market, access to interiors, and the processes by which desire was negotiated into concrete aesthetic environments that responded to the contingencies of life and change.

Admission is free. Reservations required for each day.

For more information or to make a reservation, visit the Getty website»