Art Adorned, which runs from 22nd November until 3rd December at Christie’s London, takes twoscore Dolce & Gabbana couture gowns and displays them alongside the Renaissance originals. A full-skirted, corseted dress featuring a cross-stitched replica of the 1505-1506 painting Madonna del Prato by Raphael, for instance, sits alongside Francesco Botticini’s similarly rich oil painting Madonna and Child with Two Angels. There are objects, too: an extraordinarily opulent north European Ormolu and crystal-glass 19th century chandelier is suspended near a pair of Alta Gioielleria chandelier earrings in yellow and white gold and studded with diamonds.
Deep-pocketed clients seeking a pair of Russian mahogany parcel-gilt and ebonised armchairs on which to recline in their couture are in luck, as well as those for whom a dramatic portrait of Francesca Gambereschi, by Santi di Tito, in a red and gilt-embroidered gown would comprise the perfect backdrop, perhaps, for a paillette-choked Dolce dress framed with gold and red silk ruffles.
Such is the synergy between the art and the fashion that the exhibition came about quite naturally, according to Sandra Romito, senior consultant for Christie’s Old Masters department. “There was a dialogue between the designers and us, where they showed us their dresses and we thought about what might go alongside them,” Romito told Vogue. “It’s a celebration of craftsmanship, of inventiveness, of ideas - there is a natural flow between the works of art, the couture and the jewellery in rooms dedicated broadly to the Baroque and the Rococo.”
Christie’s hopes that the exhibition will make Old Masters feel more accessible to a younger audience. “It’s a way to get rid of the dust that’s associated with Old Master paintings and decorative art,” Romito said. “We’ve worked hard to create an exhibition that is academically correct but not heavy. The exhibition is open to everybody, and there are works of art on sale for £1,000 - not just those in the millions.” Several of the works are loans, though most are for private sales. “There is a physical relationship that you can have with the works when you step into the gallery - it’s phenomenal, and that’s why I love working here,” said Romito. She added: “It makes the art and the haute couture more human - we’re not at the National Gallery, we’re not at a boutique.”
The other headline-making element? A painting that has recently been reattributed to a woman: The Triumph of Galatea, formerly ascribed to Bernardo Cavallino, now attributed to Artemisia Gentileschi, an Italian Baroque painter who was the first woman to become a member of the Accademia di Arte del Disegno in Florence. “Exhibitions dedicated to female Old Master painters are on the rise,” said Romito. “There are so few of them - as women, we weren’t allowed to paint, to go to the academies, to study anatomy. The few women that could make it as painters were those whose parents were painters, those who grew up in studios. Most of them became portrait painters, because to paint history - which is the main field for Old Masters - you had to study anatomy.”
The Triumph of Galatea, therefore, makes for an interesting conversation piece. “It’s a beautiful painting, very large, quite grand,” said Romito. “I avoid the feminist spin when it comes to female Old Masters - I just want the facts. But this painting is really stunning.” And with the first major exhibition of Artemisia Gentileschi’s work going on display at the National Gallery in spring 2020, now’s the time to invest - your hand-painted corset dress, after all, deserves better than a mere handbag as a companion piece.
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