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A Taste for the Renaissance: a dialogue between collections, is the second of a series of three exhibitions designed in collaboration with the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (which was founded after the 1851 Expo as the Museum of Manufacturing), one of the jewels of heterogeneous cultural production in Europe.
The taste for the Renaissance is a common vocation for the London Cultural Center and for the powerful collection, preserved in the Musée de la Marine in Place de la Concorde, of Tamīm bin Amad Āl Thānī, Emir of Qatar.
130 objects and works of art
In addition to the four rooms of the Musée, completely renovated for the occasion and dedicated to the Renaissance, precious pieces arriving from London are added, for a total of over 130 objects and works of art which will tell the story of the Genius loci and the creative atmosphere of our Country, when it was still a galaxy of very rich cities, governed by duchies and republics.
Now that creative atmosphere has moved elsewhere (precisely London, Paris and in other ways the Emirates) but the power of the works on display reminds us that the Renaissance is still – and only – that thing there, which we can admire in the former Garde. Meuble of the French Crown (and headquarters of the Kriegsmarine).
The alliance between state and patrons
The curator Emma Edwards has imagined a journey that narrates atmospheres starting from objects which in turn are the paradigm of the desire of 16th century Europe to leave a trace in space and time. Bijoux, une Renaissance en miniature and Matériaux, art et invention, are some of the titles of this journey which tells, once again, how important the alliance between the State and patrons (and between collectors and the public) is, which is firmly established in France starting from the Law on patronage and valorization of cultural heritage signed by the then Minister JJ Aillagon, now Advisor to the entrepreneur (Kering) Francois Pinault, himself a great collector (over 10,000 works) and patron.