The fifteenth and sixteenth centuries saw a great artistic flowering of pottery-painting in Italy, which elevated maiolica to the level of a branch of Renaissance art. Among the most important markets for Italian maiolica workshops were pharmacies, both in religious hospitals and in commercial street operation. The Museum of the Order of St John holds a notable collection of maiolica jars, many of them made for the Order of St John in Malta. The lecture will discuss some of these in the context of the wider art of maiolica.

Timothy Wilson was from 1990 to 2017 Keeper of Western Art at the Ashmolean and (from 2010) Professor of the Arts of the Renaissance at the University of Oxford. He is an Emeritus Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford, and now writes, organizes exhibitions, and lectures, principally on Italian Renaissance pottery.

This event will take place over Zoom, and live subtitles will be provided by Stagetext.

All proceeds from this talk, and others in the Treasures from the Museum of the Order of St John series, will be put towards the conservation of the books and bound manuscripts in the Museum’s internationally significant library collection.