Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Italian brilliance: damask walls...


Nice to have tableclothes on your walls, eh? Ah, the ornamentation characteristic of damask! Such a rich color red in hue: reminds me of the Apostolic Palace in the decades before the modernizing 1960s (this bolt of fabric is likely from 1958 or '59)! Damask is timeless and lovely with it’s reversible figured fabric of linen and silk, etc.

In the autumn of 1963 there was a new Pope who had been born in the north and had just been Archbiship of Milan. So, along with him he brought his hauteur Milanese designers. They took all the crimson damask out, and in keeping up with the times, put up a modern brown felt.

Then, just after that year of grace, the Holy Year 2000, John Paul II, of blessed memory, had the 40 year old material taken down and new white damask put back up (with the print of the tiara and keys)!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Brown felt! Shudder! Nightmares of a former Sunday School teacher.