Veiled Presence

This wide-ranging book elucidates the symbolism of veils and highlights the power of drapery in Italian art from Giotto to Titian. In the cities of the Renaissance, display of luxury dress was a marker of status. Florentines decked out their palaces and streets with textiles for public rituals. But cloths are also the stuff of fantasy: throughout the book, the author moves from the material to the metaphorical. Curtains and veils, swaddling and shrouds, evoke associations with birth and death.
 
The central chapters address the sculpture of Ghiberti and Donatello, focusing on how they deployed drapery to dramatic effect. In the final chapters the focus shifts to the paintings of Bellini, Lotto, and Titian, where drapery both clothes the figures and composes the picture. In the work of Titian, the veiled presence of the body is absorbed within the materials of oil-paint on canvas: medium and subject become one.

Aceasta carte ampla elucideaza simbolismul voalurilor si evidentiaza puterea draperiei in arta italiana de la Giotto la Titian. In orasele Renasterii, afisarea rochiei de lux era un semn al statutului. Florentinii si-au impodobit palatele si strazile cu materiale textile pentru ritualuri publice. Dar panzele sunt, de asemenea, chestiile fanteziei: pe parcursul cartii, autorul trece de la material la metaforic. Perdelele si valurile, invelitoarele si giulgiile, evoca asocieri cu nasterea si moartea.