Exhibition The Style of the Tsar. Italian Textiles in Russia in the 13th-18th centuries in Prato Textile Museum, Italy

18 September 2009, exhibition The Style of the Tsar. Italian Textiles in Russia in the 13th-18th centuries prepared by the State Hermitage together with the Moscow Kremlin Museums, the State Russian Museum as well as with Prato Textile Museum, Italy, opened in Prato Textile Museum, Italy.

170 pieces of art are presented at the exhibition, 103 out of which are from the collection of the State Hermitage (most of them are exhibited for the first time). New archive materials and research conducted by Russian and Italian curators of the textile collection have been used for attributions.

The exhibition is dedicated to the history of Russian-Italian connection over the period of 500 years that are illustrated by works of artistic textile, costumes, paintings, jewellery, archive documents.

The exhibition shows what place Italian textiles took in Italian art, how they were used by artists in paintings to achieve more expressiveness and richness of contents of the paintings. Four sections of the exhibition tell about 500 hundred years history of Russian-Italian textile trade that spread from Italian Northern Black Sea colonies to St Petersburg. Italian textiles were considered as especially precious goods however Russian customers made their own choice that differed from general European taste. This was connected with national cultural traditions as well as with peculiarities of the Russian costume that was apart from European fashion until the 17th century. A separate section of the exhibition is dedicated to characteristic features analysis of Russian and Italian court-dress of the 17th century.

A special section - diplomatic relations of Italy and Russia, Russian embassies in Italy - presents new aspects of Russian-Italian political connections, mutual influence of such diverse cultures.

The last section of the exhibition is dedicated to collecting of pieces of Italian textile art in Russia in the 18th-20th centuries, establishment of large museum and private collections in Russia. Participation of a large painting by Lodovico Cigoli The Circumcision originating from the Church of St Francis in Prato and purchased for the Imperial Hermitage in 1825 is symbolic here.

The collection of textiles, costumes, pieces of decorative and applied arts amplified by canvases by Italian artists - Titian, Bordon, Cigoli and others.

Exhibition curator is Tatiana Lekhovich, senior researcher of the Department of West European Applied Art History of the State Hermitage, candidate in art history, and Daniela Degl’Innocenti, curator of the collection, Prato Textile Museum.

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At the Textile Museum in Prato

At the exhibition at the Textile Museum

At the exhibition

Exhibition of the Italian Textiles in Russia in the 13th -18th centuries