Book excerpt: "This beautifully illustrated book is the first to look at the role of the urban Italian house in the development of Renaissance art and culture. "The Renaissance Home" brings together a wide range of objects, from furniture and kitchen utensils to popular prints, jewellery and everyday dress, to reveal how the homes of the upper- and middle-classes made a crucial contribution to the flowering of the visual arts in 15th- and 16th-century Italy. Drawing on a wide array of sources including inventories, account-books, letters, treatises, and archaeological and conservation reports, it offers a completely fresh exploration of the fascinating domestic world of Renaissance Italy."