Enfilade

Florentine tapestry after cartoons by Giovanni Camillo Sagrestani, The Continent of America, from a series of The Four Continents, ca. 1730s.

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Opening this month at the Pitti Palace:

The Four Continents: Florentine Tapestries after Drawings by Giovanni Camillo Sagrestani
I Quattro Continenti: Arazzi fiorentini su cartone di Giovanni Camillo Sagrestani
Palazzo Pitti, Florence, 27 September 2016 — 8 January 2017

Curated by Caterina Chiarelli and Daniele Rapino

On display will be four beautiful tapestries woven from cartoons by the painter Giovanni Camillo Sagrestani (1660–1731). It is one of the finest series realized by the Grand Ducal tapestry workshop, signed by the most skillful weavers of that time, among whom Vittorio Demignot (d. 1742), whose apprenticeship took place in Flanders. The Four Continents are represented with extravagant features and creative innovations that reflect the contemporary conception of cultural and historical identities of world lands. Comparable to the finest coeval French examples, their magnificent and elegant composition was largely appreciated: in particular, on the 20th of January 1739, they were used as decorative setup for the triumphal entry into Florence of the new Hapsburg-Lorraine Grand Duke, Francis II, and his wife Maria Teresa, future empress of Austria.