Renaissance Polychrome Sculpture in Tuscany is an open-access database of high-resolution photographs of and information about over 350 objects. All photographs are freely available for download and use in research, teaching, and publication. An interactive digital map shows the current location of each object. The platform is Queen’s University’s permanent digital archive, QSpace.

Collaboration

Una D’Elia (professor, Queen’s University), Heather Merla (PhD 2018, Queen’s University), Rachel Boyd (PhD 2020, Columbia University), and Bronwyn Bond (PhD candidate, Queen's University) created the database, working in collaboration with a team of librarians at Queen’s University led by Rosarie Coughlin. The team researched and discussed fields for organizing the information, mapping, platforms for virtual exhibitions, and best practices for carrying out research and publishing the collection. We are more than happy to share what we learned – if you would like more information about how this database was constructed, please contact Una D’Elia (deliau@queensu.ca).

Virtual Exhibitions

Because this database includes thousands of high-resolution photographs for research and publication, and because entries for each object synthesize previous scholarship, including conservation reports, making this information available to English-speaking audiences, the database can be used in undergraduate and graduate courses, and the students can publish their research in the form of online virtual exhibitions. For more information on using the database for teaching, please contact Una D'Elia (deliau@queensu.ca). Students in undergraduate and graduate classes at Queen’s have used the database to create exhibitions:

• Crafting Flesh: Collaboration in Italian Multimedia Sculpture, 1300-1700
• Performing Devotion: The Ritual Uses of Sculpture from the Italian Renaissance to Today
• Sculptures on Stage: The Drama of Devotion in the Italian Renaissance
• Sculpting the Divine in the Italian Renaissance
• The Sculptures are Watching! Behaving and Misbehaving in the Italian Renaissance Home
• Reconstructing the Social Lives of Italian Renaissance Sculptures
• The Colours of Italian Renaissance Sculpture
• Locating the Materials of Italian Renaissance Sculpture

Cultural Itineraries

These cultural itineraries of selected objects from the database, created by Maddison Andrews (MA candidate, Queen's University) and Julia Ranney (MA candidate, Queen's University), include a wealth of historical information as well as practical details to plan a trip. When travel is not possible, the itineraries offers rich virtual tours:

• Lights, Camera, Action: Theatricality and Renaissance Sculpture
• Heroines, Saints & Prostitutes of Renaissance Florence & Fiesole

Renaissance Polychrome Sculpture in Other Regions

This database is a part of a larger project to offer information about and high-resolution images of Renaissance polychrome sculpture in different regions of Italy. Two other databases are already published:

• Renaissance and Baroque Polychrome Sculpture in Lombardy and Piedmont
• Renaissance Polychrome Sculpture in Puglia and Basilicata

A database of polychrome sculptures in Sicily is in progress, and other regions will follow.

Map

The interactive map, created by Claire Litt (ABD, Queen’s University), colour-coded by material, shows the current locations for each sculpture, with links to each object page in the database.

Support

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Queen’s University Libraries, and the Department of Art History and Art Conservation at Queen’s University, without which this project would not have been possible.

Contact

If you have any questions or comments about the database, its construction, or its uses in teaching, research, and publication, or if you would like to contribute information and/or photographs, please contact Una D’Elia (deliau@queensu.ca).

Using the Images

Photographs of sculptures in this collection are freely available for teaching, research, and publication.