Exhibition opens on 4 June 2027
Tickets for this major exhibition will be available in spring 2027. Become a Member to visit for free.
Discover the sensory worlds of the Renaissance
This major new exhibition explores how art and objects created between 1450 and 1650 delighted the senses and revealed a newly-connected world.
Featuring works by artists including Raphael, Uccello, Dürer and Antonello da Messina, alongside sculptures, textiles, musical instruments and exquisite objects from Europe and beyond, Renaissance Worlds reveals a period shaped by global exchange and alive with colour, texture, music, entertainment, and fragrance.
Iridescent images fashioned from hummingbird feathers, the sounds of Renaissance drums and lutes, the scents of incense and spice, and the textures of velvets and silks reveal how people of the Renaissance experienced a rich multi-sensory world.
Header images: The Chess Game (detail), Sofonista Anguissola, 1555, oil on canvas © The Raczyński Foundation at the National Museum in Poznań;
Cittern (Creta), Girolamo Virchi, c.1560 © Ashmolean Museum;
The Hunt in the Forest, Paolo di Dono (detail), called Uccello, c. 1465–1470, tempera & oil with gold traces on panel © Ashmolean Museum
