Music in the Art of Renaissance Italy, c. 1420 - 1540

The MARI project funded by the Leverhulme Trust aims to investigate the representation of music in visual art in Renaissance Italy. Renaissance Italians experienced music within visual environments that prompted them to understand music in particular ways. The co-ordination of musical and visual experience was often purposeful, serving to communicate messages about republican, despotic and religious regimes, generating a culture of collaboration among the arts at practical and theoretical levels. Visual material therefore represents a powerful and as yet largely untapped resource for the social and cultural history of music in Renaissance Italy.

‘Music in the Art of Renaissance Italy’ brings together a team of researchers led by Dr Tim Shephard, including a Research Assistant, doctoral students Serenella Sessini and Laura Cristina Stefanescu, and Dr Beth Williamson (Reader in Art History, University of Bristol) as Project Advisor. The project team investigates the representation of music in Italian art ca.1420-1540, studying pictures featuring music-making, notation, instruments, and musical stories and symbols.