Paintings usually have some details that go unnoticed, maybe you’ve missed some of them, too. But fabrics don’t appear on paintings from centuries ago by mere chance. They always have a message to convey.
And if you happen to be in Castelfranco Veneto from October 27th, 2017 to March 4th, 2018 you’ll find out how a painter from the 16th century used textile sin his paintings. The city has indeed decided to dedicate an exhibition to its favourite artist: Giorgione. And our Tessitura is going to homage him, too, with our fabrics.
The fabrics of the paintings by Giorgione: the Castelfranco Madonna
Castelfranco is both the city were Giorgione was born, and the place where he left one of his most meaningful works: the Castelfranco Madonna (1502 ca.). And here, in the very middle of the painting, there are some carefully detailed fabrics:
- the clothes of the Madonna, with their soft folds, whose colours are white, green and red to represent the theological virtues, respectively faith, hope and charity;
- a fabric showing gold decorations on the back of the Virgin’s throne;
- a striped fabric and another one with plants and flowers on a green ground laying on the throne’s base.
Historians think that Giorgione depicted these fabrics so precisely to deliver a message to the Senators of the Republic of Venice. The nobleman who commissioned the work, Tuzio Costanzo, had served the queen of Cyprus, Caterina Cornaro. At least until the Serenissima made her abdicate and return to Venice in 1489.
Would you like to discover which was the message? You can find it out at the exhibition Le Trame di Giorgione (“The Patterns of Giorgione”), whose starting point is indeed the Cathedral of Castelfranco, where Giorgione’s Madonna is located.
An exhibition on Giorgione and antique fabrics
Le Trame di Giorgione therefore aims at presenting both this artist and the details that painted fabrics hide. That’s why it features some itineraries in Castelfranco and other cities, to explore the story of some of Giorgione’s works and of fabrics.
And Bevilacqua’s creations will be waiting for you at the Costanzos’ House. Here you can learn something more about the family who commissioned the Castelfranco Madonna. Besides, our weaving mill in Venice is part of one of the itineraries connected to the exhibition.
Here you can find further information on the Trame di Giorgione exhibition. Come visit us!
