One of the most incredible interiors of the Italian Renaissance was designed and built for the Ducal Palace in the Umbrian town of Gubbio. A “studiolo,” or small study, was an important room in palaces of the era, serving as an intimate sanctum for its owner to engage in scholarship and meditation. The space was used to entertain visitors as well as store treasured possessions. This circa 1478 to 1482 “Studiolo” was created in a wood-inlay technique called intarsia, and its detailed images of architecture and still lifes are rendered as a trompe l’oeil (trick of the eye) effect. No longer in Italy, it was shipped to New York City in 1939 and is on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The tour-de-force Gubbio “Studiolo” was commissioned by Duke Federico III da Montefeltro (1422–1482), a famous ruler of the Duchy of Urbino and parts of Umbria. He was renowned as a military leader, intellectual humanist, and patron of the arts. Federico was described by a contemporary as “ever careful to learn some new thing every day.” One of the world’s most notable Renaissance portraits is a circa 1465 to 1472 image of him by painter Piero della Francesca that is part of the Uffizi collection in Florence.
