Jacquard N°79

Florentine production of silk fabrics in the second half of the 15th century is the focus of the first article. Iconographic evidence is always an important source for scholars of textiles, and in this case numerous works by Benozzo Gozzoli are starting points for reflection and comparison that can contribute to defining the types of decoration in vogue in Medici Florence.

We remain in Florence with the correspondence between court chamberlain Marchese Giovanni Ginori and the Peyron Frères manufactory of Lyon, between 1829 and 1833, concerning supply of fabrics for use as wall coverings and for upholstering the furniture in various rooms of the Palazzina della Meridiana at Palazzo Pitti.

Following are three articles centring on an ancient art, that of embroidery, and in particular on the decorative stitching of the mantle donated as a votive offering by the people of Valtellina to the Madonna di Tirano in 1746 and of the scale reproduction of the same cloak embroidered in 2016. This contemporary work, as extraordinary as the original – and perhaps even more so –demonstrates that this refined ancient tradition is still alive today and how crafters’ hands not only still move with enduring skill and patience but can still be uplifted to serve a higher end.

In this issue, the by-now usual article on restoration introduces us to an object that in today’s digital age is in disuse and all but forgotten: the penwiper. A small object that takes us back to a time when certain gestures were commonplace; to a time made harder to forget by an exacting conservation and restoration effort.

With the TessArt’è project now concluded, another contribution sums up the contents and results of a highly-articulated initiative involving research, training, dissemination of information and results, an itinerant exhibition and publication of the exhibition catalogue.

For Fibre Art, we are presenting three artists who have made textiles – as material – the substance of their works and expression of their lives.