My friends know my love of patterns. One of them gave me a small book about patterns in renaissance paintings, called From Painting to Pattern which is a collaboration of the National Gallery and Moleskine. The book reveals interesting details in paintings that most people might not notice. The rich patterns in the paintings come to live when they are printed as bigger surfaces in the book and one can really see how detailed subjects the artists have been painting.
I'll go to the National Gallery to have a look at this book. I remember writing down that I was very impressed with patterns in many pre-renaissance & renaissance paintings (as well as in mannerist paintings: see Bronzino's clothes and fabrics) when I visited a few years ago.
ReplyDeleteIf I remember well some patterns move across the painting i.e. the patterns won't follow the pleats or the fabric, but rather symbolise it. There are also gold on gold patterns in background (the gold looks like it has been "carved" or incised)... There is a whole decorative/ornamental aspect to this kind of painting which I have only seen elsewhere in Japanese prints!
Gold on gold patterns..sounds very interesting! I need to go to National Gallery too. Too many years have passed since my last visit. The book is just a notebook size, but has a good variety of prints and patterns.
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