Room 64: Renaissance Art & Ideas 1400–1550
The Wolfson Gallery explores Renaissance ideas and beliefs, particulary the interest in antiquity and classical pre…
Read articleRoom 64a: Donatello & the Making of Art 1400–1500
The Robert H. Smith Gallery holds The V&A's exceptional collection of sculptures by Donatello, the most important a…
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Room 50: The Renaissance City 1350–1600
The Paul and Jill Ruddock Gallery holds large-scale works, once part of impressive Renaissance buildings, are displ…
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Italian Renaissance villas and gardens
In the 14th century, the Italian villa was a large country house, often fortified, that stood at the heart of an ag…
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Donatello and Florence
Donatello was born and died in Florence, and was a favourite of Cosimo de' Medici (1389–1464), a member of the fami…
Read articleThe Ascension Relief by Donatello, 1428-30
Donatello is regarded as one of the greatest sculptors of the 1400s and this marble panel is one of the finest surv…
Read articleCosimo I de' Medici: Renaissance patron
Cosimo I de’ Medici (1519–74) was Duke of Florence between 1537 and his death. The de’ Medicis were renowned for th…
Read articleRenaissance music 1400–1600
The recordings you can listen to on this page are featured throughout the Museum's Medieval & Renaissance galleries…
Read articleRenaissance preachers
During the Italian Renaissance, charismatic preachers spoke not only about spiritual matters but also about the soc…
Read articleLeonardo da Vinci: experience, experiment, design
The V&A has in its collections five of Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks. They reveal how he thought on paper and conta…
Read articleRenaissance women at leisure
Women from wealthy Renaissance families had a range of leisure pursuits available to them, including hunting, gamin…
Read articleMedieval & Renaissance hunting
Hunting in the medieval period was a sport exclusive to royalty and the aristocracy, and was more than a pastime. T…
Read articleRenaissance love songs
In the Renaissance, as today, love songs were extremely popular, many of them written about courtly love.
What's the difference? Climate comparisons for the Medieval & Renaissance Galleries
The act of displaying artefacts inevitably impacts on their preservation. Understanding the interaction between collections and their environments is an essential element in determining display strategies that adequately balance the needs of current visitors with long-term preservation issues for the artefacts. This article describes a new analytical approach developed at the V&A to allow gallery climates quantitatively to be assessed in terms of the hazards they pose to artefacts.
Renaissance childbirth
Pregnancy and childbirth were dangerous times in a woman's life, and most women wrote their wills once they knew they were pregnant. To safeguard and reassure the pregnant woman facing these risks, or to celebrate a successful birth, there were special foods and objects, including birth trays and amulets.

A forthcoming technical publication of Renaissance frames at the V&A
Digital image reconstruction may be used for some frames to demonstrate how the original decoration appeared.
The V&A Medieval & Renaissance Flickr group
In the Medieval & Renaissance galleries people have been asked to come and take pictures of their favourite object.
Queen Elizabeth II by Cecil Beaton
8 February – 22 April 2012
Featuring portraits of Queen Elizabeth II by royal photographer Cecil Beaton, this exhibition celebrates Her Majesty in her roles as princess, monarch and mother and coincides with the 60th anniversary of her accession to the throne.
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Inside the Renaissance House
A delightful tour of the rooms the Italian Renaissance house, published for the V&A's At Home in Renaissance Italy exhibition, opening in October
Buy nowEvent - Medieval & Renaissance Tour 11.30
Thu 27 May 2010–Mon 31 December 2012

TOUR: Join this daily one hour tour which introduces the V&A's stunning Medieval & Renaissance Galleries. Starting at the Meeting Point, Grand Entrance at 11.30.
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