Sandra Cavallo and Silvia Evangelisti, editors of Domestic Institutional Interiors in Early Modern Europe, begin their introduction by reminding the reader that many early modern people did not live exclusively in houses. Instead, the period saw large numbers of women and men from diverse social backgrounds who experienced a variety of domestic arrangements in different types of institutions for part or all of their lives. The slight change of the book’s title from that of the 2004 conference at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum entitled “Domestic and Institutional Interiors in Early Modern Europe” from which it emerged reflects an important shift in concept and reveals the purpose of the volume. Although the last few decades have seen attention focused on the early modern domestic experience within the expanded but still largely traditional nuclear household, Cavallo and Evangelisti remark that, “we still know relatively little of the domestic experience of those who lived in non-family arrangements and the way in which they understood and used their living environments” (1). To begin filling this gap, Cavallo and Evangelisti have drawn together the research of an international group of historians to investigate where the categories of the domestic and the institutional—often conceived as separate spheres—overlap, examining to what extent the distinctions between the two remain valid. Other categories also see investigation, including the customary dichotomies of private and public, inside and outside, and the sacred and profane, in each case suggesting a blurring of boundaries.

The approach of the various contributors is interdisciplinary, reflecting the essayists’ interests in issues of early modern gender, material culture, and art, architectural, and economic history. Further, “institution” is interpreted broadly to include not only such traditionally studied spaces as orphanages, convents, and hospitals, but has been expanded to allow for a consideration of such diverse domestic contexts as the Renaissance palace, English colleges, and places of worship. In their investigations of how individuals perceived, modified, and interacted with various institutional environments in Catholic and Protestant Europe (primarily England, Italy, Holland, and Portugal), the contributors redefine the relationship between the domestic and the institutional, and in doing so open the door to other domesticities.

The nine studies presented are divided into two sections, the first of which deals with the organization and representation of spaces. The opening two essays examine Italian contexts. In the first, Henry Dietrich Fernandez investigates the relationship of a never-realized Conclave Hall, commissioned from Donato Bramante, to the papacy of Julius II. The pope’s architect conceived of a single, vast space that ostensibly represented a leveling of the playing ground for cardinals of different social backgrounds and means, and would have granted them greater dignity, beauty, and comforts than the locales for conclaves traditionally afforded. By investigating earlier conclave plans, Fernandez reveals that no such level field had been attained in past settings in which cardinals were housed in separate camerette whose physical arrangement and contents effectively signaled political and social status, and reflected political and social tensions. He suggests that the expansive new terrain, undoubtedly to have been magnificently decorated, would have inspired a greater sense of collective purpose during papal elections. In the second, Raffaella Sarti examines the role of graffiti in the Ducal Palace of Urbino in her exploration of the relationships between domestic and institutional/political spaces. Sarti’s study indicates that the sharp line drawn today between authorized, formal inscriptions and unauthorized graffiti was during the time in question far less clear, and that numerous individuals from higher and lower social status—lords, guests, prisoners, and domestic servants—often wrote on palace walls. She argues convincingly it was the public, institutional, and monumental nature of the palace that encouraged the activities that now allow viewers to understand the various functions the palace played in the lives of its inhabitants.

Louise Durning explores the alternative domesticity of Oxford and Cambridge colleges between 1580 and 1640, charting their shift from medieval to early modern institutions through both architectural changes and the institutions’ internal social hierarchy as reflected in the organization of living spaces and gift-giving. She demonstrates how throughout the time in question, the evolving patron-client relationship between “commoner” or private students and the institution was reflected in valuable domestic objects donated to colleges, and became a significant factor in the financing and organization of new and renovated architectural spaces. The last two essays in this section examine domestic arrangements in more traditional institutional settings. Jane Kromm’s study focuses on Dutch charitable institutions and examines the ways in which lottery posters and portal imagery reveal notions about the interior, working spaces of the institution, and allowed such institutions to present themselves and their charitable activities to a concerned and pious public. The last chapter in this section, by Helen Hills, moves back to post-Tridentine Italy to explore how cloistered nuns moved within architectural spaces that she argues were “composed of several series of gradations and of interiors within interiors” (122). After examining the interpenetration of the public—in the forms of public spaces, individuals, and the eyes of the laity—into the private spheres of the convent, Hills explores how nuns modified their private, internal spaces in meaningful ways less marked by dynastic concerns, but no less important than traditional forms of patronage.

Part 2 focuses on objects and explores their meaning and uses. Molly Bourne ushers in this section focusing on the patronage behaviors and relationships of three women—Margherita Gonzaga d’Este, Caterina de’ Medici, and the nun-painter Lucrina Fetti—with ties to the Mantuan court within the context of Mantua’s Sant’Orsola. Bourne’s exploration reveals the extent to which the institutional interior could be domesticized, and illustrates how the protocols and objects associated with the domestic court could be transferred to a convent setting. The study of objects lies also at the heart of Isabel dos Guimaraes Sá’s study of the Portuguese court between 1480 and 1580, which explores the patterns of patronage exercised by the kings and queens of Portugal and indicates a gender divide with regards to the gifting of personally owned religious items, especially relics. Garland paintings are another form of object studied in this section. Susan Merriam charts the movement of this unusual iconography from its emergence within the Counter Reformation to its later links to contemporary collecting trends, arguing their relationship to the curiosity cabinet and examining their use in the middle-class Flemish home. Anne E. C. McCants’s exploration of the consumer behavior of former Amsterdam orphans and what those choices reveal regarding their owners’ possibilities for social mobility rounds out the volume. Using probate inventories, McCants analyzes the possessions of Elisabeth van Oostrum at the time of her death at age twenty-seven within the context of those of other former orphans and their parents. Her research indicates that orphans remained marked by consumer habits developed within the orphanage throughout their lives, but were nonetheless at least as well prepared to navigate the world outside the institution as those who grew up in traditional homes.

The thought-provoking case studies offered here represent a valuable contribution to the study of non-familial domestic environments, and provide models for future research while posing questions yet to be answered. The reader is aided in exploring the material presented by a bibliography and a good index. By studying the exchanges between objects, individuals, and institutions across highly permeable boundaries, the research in Domestic Institutional Interiors in Early Modern Europe focuses on the human experience within a range of circumstances not often studied. It challenges current notions concerning how individuals engaged with and modified their institutional environments, and it opens a door to further study.