Press Releases

Images of courtiers feasting at lavish tables and knights in gleaming armor are emblematic of the Renaissance courts of Europe. However, life at court was governed by many codes of conduct. The monarch affirmed his political authority through pageantry, and even leisure activities such as hunting and jousting, were subject to strict social hierarchies. This exhibition explores how the luxury arts, from illuminated manuscripts to textiles, helped construct the identities of the court elite.

Practitioners of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have been called people of the book for their shared belief in the importance of divine word. A recent acquisition of a remarkable medieval Torah allows the Getty for the firs time to represent the three faiths through their sacred books. The display showcases the manuscripts, each rendered in glowing gold and luminous colors on parchment: a ninth-century North African Qur'an, a fifteenth-century Christian Bible, and a rare thirteenth-century Torah from Northern Europe. 

What did ancient Greeks believe would happen to them after they died? Organized around a monumental funerary vessel, on loan from National Archaeological Museum in Naples and recently conserved at the Getty Villa, this exhibition explores depictions of the Underworld in the art of Greece and southern Italy. Beyond tales of famous wrongdoers and rulers of the dead, the works on view highlight the desire for a blessed existence after death and the ways in which individuals sought to achieve a happier afterlife.