New Renaissance art wing at Victoria and Albert

Ten new galleries at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London are being unveiled to the public December 2, 2009. The new wing will focus on Medieval and Renaissance art, and will display more than 1,800 works rarely seen.

Some of the highlights include St. Thomas Becket's Casket, the only surviving Devonshire Hunting Tapestry to survive the 15th Century, Gothic altarpieces and the greatest collection of Italian Renaissance sculpture outside of Italy.  Imagine seeing the actual nail and finger imprint of Michelangelo on a wax model. The renovation cost approximately $53 million and has taken seven years to complete.

The Renaissance Art and Ideas Gallery features five notebooks belonging to Leonardo da Vinci. They contain notes, diagrams and sketches of various theories and inventions, such as hydraulic engineering devices, anatomy of the human head, his 'mirror writing' (writing from right to left), and passages regarding postures of a group at a table, possibly relating to the Last Supper.

Each gallery will have a theme with specific stories, historical figures and important patrons, such as Charlemagne and the Medici family. The 10 galleries are:

Faiths and Empires 300-1250
The Rise of the Gothic 1200-1350
Devotion and Display 1300-1500
Noble Living 1350-1500
Renaissance Art and Ideas 1400-1550
Donatello and the Making of Art 1400-1500
A World of Goods 1450-1600
Splendour and Society 1500-1600
The Renaissance City 1350-1600
Living with the Past

For more info:  Victoria and Albert Museum
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