Setting the Scene

An exploration of the rich but often overlooked history of painted cloths in Western art, from the Middle Ages to the present. Once central to religious ceremony, court pageantry, domestic interiors, and scenic design, these versatile and portable works were commonly used but rarely preserved. The collected papers examine their shifting contexts, functions, materials, and techniques-tracing how painted fabrics evolved from symbols of power to components of theatrical and decorative art across centuries.

The potential for large sizes, portability and versatility for religious objects including banners, hangings, altarpieces and palls was the impetus for the emergence of fabrics as a painting support in Western art in the Middle Ages. The functionality of the works explains the survival of relatively few examples and although painted cloths were the most common form of interior decoration for centuries, they have received less attention from art historians and historians in part due to this poor survival rate. While painted cloths were once commissioned for court functions, part of an elaborate display of royal power and magnificence, the same methods and materials continued to be used for scenic cloths. The papers in this volume explore the use of painted cloths in religious ceremony, pageantry, domestic interiors and scenic art, focusing on their change of context and significance from the fourteenth to the twenty-first century and examining their different function, materials and method of creation.

Foreword

Nicola Costaras and Christina Young

Introduction

Maurice Howard

Religious and secular

Cloths in and on paintings: from curtain to shutter and back again

Roland Krischel

The use of painted cloths in London civic pageantry in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries

Nicola Coldstream

The ownership of painted cloths in late medieval England

Nicola Costaras

Domestic interior

The painted cloths at Owlpen Manor, Gloucestershire

Nicholas Mander

Painted cloths in late medieval London houses

Katherine L. French

'Shall by a painted cloth be kept in awe': Shakespeare's narrative textiles

Rebecca Olson

A Chinese room in decay: history and conservation

Jorien Jas

From foot-cloth to petticoat: the British uses of Indian chintz ca. 1700

Sylvia Houghteling

Pageantry and ceremony

The trade and import of painted cloths in fifteenth- to sixteenth-century London

Jo Kirby

A technical study of a late fourteenth-century double-sided processional banner by Spinello Aretino

Sarah Kleiner

The Legend of St Bruno and painting cycles on canvas in late fifteenth-century Cologne

Katja von Baum

Painted cloth and the transformation of Seville Cathedral for the 1671 festivities of the canonization of Saint Ferdinand III

Sing d'Arcy

Scenic art

The changing practice of scenic painters in England

Hilary Vernon-Smith

The changing role of English scenic artists

Christina Young

Normansfield Theatre scenery: materials and construction revealed through conservation

Karen Thompson and Frances Lennard

Paintings for performance: theatre cloths in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London and the Royal Pavilion, Art Gallery and Museums, Brighton

Jane Pritchard,

Foreword

Nicola Costaras and Christina Young

Introduction

Maurice Howard

Religious and secular

Cloths in and on paintings: from curtain to shutter and back again

Roland Krischel

The use of painted cloths in London civic pageantry in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries

Nicola Coldstream

The ownership of painted cloths in late medieval England

Nicola Costaras

Domestic interior

The painted cloths at Owlpen Manor, Gloucestershire

Nicholas Mander

Painted cloths in late medieval London houses

Katherine L. French

‘Shall by a painted cloth be kept in awe’: Shakespeare’s narrative textiles

Rebecca Olson

A Chinese room in decay: history and conservation

Jorien Jas

From foot-cloth to petticoat: the British uses of Indian chintz ca. 1700

Sylvia Houghteling

Pageantry and ceremony

The trade and import of painted cloths in fifteenth- to sixteenth-century London

Jo Kirby

A technical study of a late fourteenth-century double-sided processional banner by Spinello Aretino

Sarah Kleiner

The Legend of St Bruno and painting cycles on canvas in late fifteenth-century Cologne

Katja von Baum

Painted cloth and the transformation of Seville Cathedral for the 1671 festivities of the canonization of Saint Ferdinand III

Sing d’Arcy

Scenic art

The changing practice of scenic painters in England

Hilary Vernon-Smith

The changing role of English scenic artists

Christina Young

Normansfield Theatre scenery: materials and construction revealed through conservation

Karen Thompson and Frances Lennard

Paintings for performance: theatre cloths in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London and the Royal Pavilion, Art Gallery and Museums, Brighton

Jane Pritchard

• Edited by Nicola Costaras
• Edited by Christina Young

"The book is simple, well presented and interesting and helps to establish painted cloths as more than ephemeral objects. The diverse set of essays highlight the longevity and value expected of painted cloths despite their rarity. The book presents the current practice of using paint media and textile substrates, underlining the fact that painted textiles will continue to be part of current and future society." ICON News - March 2014
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The book is simple, well presented and interesting and helps to establish painted cloths as more than ephemeral objects. The diverse set of essays highlight the longevity and value expected of painted cloths despite their rarity. The book presents the current practice of using paint media and textile substrates, underlining the fact that painted textiles will continue to be part of current and future society.

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