They say there’s nothing new under the sun, that all ideas have been formulated – and reformulated – countless times. In an age when we are bombarded by content, it’s telling that we are insatiably drawn to the ‘classics’ as a purer form of engagement with art.

We seek out recognizable paintings, sculptures and buildings of times gone by. But we have a tendency to think of masterpieces sprung fully formed out of their creators’ minds. Little do we realize their ideas were subjected to the same cycle of change, development, and refinement. The Renaissance was an era bursting with creation, and that inevitably means re-creation.