It seems remarkable, given that the National Gallery in London has the best collection anywhere of paintings by Italian artist Carlo Crivelli, that there has never before been an exhibition devoted to his work in Britain. All the more remarkable, then, that when there is one it should be at the Ikon Gallery in Birmingham, a venue better known as a champion of contemporary art. This is the 'dream exhibition' of the Gallery's director Jonathan Watkins, and goes back to ideas he had back in the 1980s, concerning how truly original and sophisticated Crivelli's work was - and how badly it was misunderstood 40 years ago. 

The title of the exhibition is inspired by one of his paintings which is decorated, as so many are, with a trompe  l'oeil garland of fruit. This painted garland casts a shadow on the painted sky - revealing it to be - as we knew all along - a painting. This play of what is real and unreal continues in other works where what appears to be three-dimensional and solid actually is, so that a subtle questioning of the nature of art starts to emerge centuries before we even thought that conceptual content to be possible. 

We will look at all of the exhibited works in detail, together with other paintings by Crivelli and his contemporaries where relevant. I will also introduce two fascinating contemporary artists whose works are placed in dialogue with those of the Renaissance master, Audrey Flack and Susan Collis.