Dizionario delle arti minori

The minor arts journey starting from the Middle Ages, through the blooming of Renaissance, up to the great seventeenth and eighteenth century seasons

The dictionary analyzes materials and production techniques and it is introduced by two prolusions to the theme. Liana Castelfranchi dedicates ample space to the theoretical debate relating to terminology and the critical fortune of the minor arts and focuses her investigation on the absolute masterpieces produced by the \’medieval workshop\’. Cinzia Piglione instead proposes a different approach to the minor arts, aimed at capturing the dense exchanges between the various artistic techniques, choosing the most complex production centers of the Italian panorama between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries as privileged observers.

The Dictionary offers an exhaustive treatment of a representative sample of minor arts; ample space is given to textiles (tapestries, embroidery, fabrics) and collectibles. The remaining sectors concern the miniature, the working of metals and hard stones (goldsmith, enamel, engraving, seal and glyptics), the working of ceramic, glass, ivory, leather and marquetry.