7 74 deborah howard
Figure 20.8. Palazzo Donà, Fondamenta Nuove, Venice, begun 1610
(photo: Deborah Howard).of evidence regarding the distribution and functions of rooms and led to
the destruction or deterioration of many aspects of interior decoration.108
The Modernist emphasis on space, light, and volume, too, has led to a
damaging neglect of the study of ornament and craftsmanship.
More positively, over the past few decades, the burgeoning interest in
material culture and micro-history has encouraged the close scrutiny of
household inventories.109 When an individual died in Venice, his or her
goods were often itemized as part of the probate procedures, while over-
seas household possessions were inventoried for repatriation to the heirs.
These inventories provide an enticing view through the keyhole, expos-
ing the cultural spectrum of the owner—whether in terms of intellectual
108 Wolfgang Wolters, Architektur und Ornament: venezianischer Bauschmuck der
Renaissance (Munich, 2005).
109 See especially Patricia Fortini Brown, Art and Life in Renaissance Venice (New
Haven/London, 2004); and De Maria, Becoming Venetian. For Venetians overseas, see
Francesco Bianchi and Deborah Howard, “Life and Death in Damascus: The Material
Culture of Venetians in the Syrian Capital in the Mid-Fifteenth Century,” Studi veneziani,
n.s. 45 (2003), 233–99.