VEILED PRESENCE

This wide-ranging book elucidates the symbolism of veils and highlights the power of drapery in Italian art from Giotto to Titian. I n the cities of the Renaissance, display of luxury dress was a marker of status. Florentines decked out their palaces and streets wi th 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 t he sculp...[Read more]