The Spectacle of Clouds, 1439-1650

The Spectacle of Clouds examines the different ways Heaven has been conceived and represented from the fifteenth to the seventeenth century, crossing over into the fields of history, religion and philosophy. By examining visual sources such as paintings, frescos and stage designs, together with letters, guild-ledgers, descriptions of performances and treatises, a new methodology to approach the development of this early modern visuality is offered. The result is an historical reconstruction where multiple factors are seen as facets of a single process which led to the development of Italy’s visual culture.