Virtù
Encyclopedia
Virtu comes from Italian virtù "virtue, excellence," from Latin virtus, "excellence, worth, goodness, virtue." See also vertù.

According to the Oxford Dictionary, Virtu means "a love of fine arts." Examples of this are seen here:
The Italian humanist Giovanni Pontano described these objects as "statues, pictures, tapestries, divans, chairs of ivory, cloth interwoven with gems, many-coloured boxes and coffers in the Arabian style, crystal vases and other things of this kind . . . [whose] sight . . . is pleasing and brings prestige to the owner of the house." They all spoke to the wealth, taste and virtu of their owner.
-- John Brewer, The Pleasures of the Imagination

Divans, Persian rugs, easy chairs, books, statuary, articles of virtu and bric-a-brac are on every side, and the whole has the appearance of a place where one could dream his life away.
-- "Mark Twain's Summer Home", The New York Times, September 10, 1882

See also

  • Virtu™ GPU Virtualization Software (http://www.lucidlogix.com/product-virtu.html)
  • Virtu Fine Crafts (http://virtuchicago.com/)
  • Virtu Restaurant (http://virturestaurant.com/index.html)
  • Virtu Technology Apple IIe emulator (http://virtu.codeplex.com/)
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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