Love

de Angela Hesson, Charles Zika, Matthew Martin

Love, in the early modern era, was not so much a single emotion as an intricate constellation of feelings, experienced and expressed by the individual as well as broader society. From romantic desire to religious devotion, from patriotism to narcissism to nostalgia, Love: Art of Emotion 1400-1800 explores notions of public display and private sentiment, ostentation and intimacy. Featuring texts by leading scholars and curators, this lavishly illustrated book considers the capacity of art and objects to materialise and model emotion, from Vivarini's grand-scale, much-celebrated painting The Garden of Love to tiny pieces of jewellery worn against the body as love tokens or in memoriam. Here, love is manifested across a broad range of cultural forms, media and objects, from the intellectually or spiritually elevated to the popular and the practical. Drawing upon more than 200 works from the National Gallery of Victoria's rich and diverse collection, Love: Art of Emotion 1400-1800 examines the many facets and expressions of this complex emotion in early modern Europe.