Foreword Philippe Jockey INTRODUCTION L'éclat: the scientific challenges of an extinguished brilliance Philippe Jockey THE VOCABULARY OF LIGHT REFLECTED All that glitters is not gold... Clarisse Prêtre Matte surfaces: meaning for audiences of 18th-century pastel portraits and the implications for their care today Thea Burns Brilliance and the imprint: Roman mural painting, an architectural epidermis Maud Mulliez The eternal life of the painting: obliteration versus the brilliance of the artist's genius Ana González Mozo ANCIENT, MODERN AND CONTEMPORARYS TAGINGS OF ÉCLAT AND ITS ERASURE Architecture and the radiance of Greek sculpture Sophie Montel Colour, radiance and meaning. A semiological perspective on Greek Archaic Korai Anthony Mathé Technology in the arts, humanities and cultural heritage Franz Fischnaller Ritual practices of 'preservative' obliteration in the Iron Age. An archaeological perspective on the choice of colours and materials Mario Denti De-gild, re-gild, erase. The decorations of Paleo-Christian churches (4th-6th century). The morals of religion and the political discourse of erasure and obliteration – the role of materials Elisabetta Neri "A world of material splendour". Walter Pater and the paradox of Greek sculptural polychromy Charlotte Ribeyrol "A world of material splendour". Walter Pater and the paradox of Greek sculptural polychromy Charlotte Ribeyrol POST SCRIPTA Some reflections on éclat and its erasure. The perspective of a restorer and translator Helen Glanville The luminous materials of the divine Claudio Seccaroni Cronache del restauro Il Gabinetto in "cuoio dorato" della Villa Reale di Monza. Provenienza, analisi e restauro Sofia Incarbone Un inedito duplice bozzetto di Joseph Mallord William Turner Roberta Lapucci, Leonardo Borgioli Il Ritratto del Conte Antonio Porcìa di Tiziano e i suoi restauri Andrea Carini Il restauro di Modulo bianco a tripla struttura di Vanna Nicolotti Lodovica Picciolli, LuciaVanghi La ricerca Valorizzazione e conservazione del patrimonio fotografico. Intervento di conservazione in "cold storage" di materiali sensibili su pellicola Letizia Montalbano, Annalisa Lusuardi, Emanuela Sesti Metodologia di studio per il restauro di un abito del XVII secolo. Riscoperto a Milano un capolavoro d'arte suntuaria Francesco Pertegato

This volume provides an ambitious synopsis of the complex, colourful world of textiles in ancient Mediterranean iconography. A wealth of information on ancient textiles is available from depictions such as sculpture, vase painting, figurines, reliefs and mosaics. Commonly represented in clothing, textiles are also present in furnishings and through the processes of textile production. The challenge for anyone analysing ancient iconography is determining how we interpret what we see. As preserved textiles rarely survive in comparable forms, we must consider the extent to which representations of textiles reflect reality, and critically evaluate the sources. Images are not simple replicas or photographs of reality. Instead, iconography draws on select elements from the surrounding world that were recognisable to the ancient audience, and reveal the perceptions, ideologies, and ideas of the society in which they were produced. Through examining the durable evidence, this anthology reveals the ephemeral world of textiles and their integral role in the daily life, cult and economy of the ancient Mediterranean.

Rooted in close readings of individual poems, buildings, and works of art, Pindar, Song, and Space ranges from Athens to Libya, Sicily to Rhodes, to provide a revelatory new understanding of the world the Greeks built—and a new model for studying the ancient world.

As portraits, private diaries, and estate inventories make clear, elite families of the Italian Renaissance were obsessed with fashion, investing as much as forty percent of their fortunes on clothing. In fact, the most elaborate outfits of the period could cost more than a good-sized farm out in the Mugello. Yet despite its prominence in both daily life and the economy, clothing has been largely overlooked in the rich historiography of Renaissance Italy. In Dressing Renaissance Florence, however, Carole Collier Frick provides the first in-depth study of the Renaissance fashion industry, focusing on Florence, a city founded on cloth, a city of wool manufacturers, finishers, and merchants, of silk dyers, brocade weavers, pearl dealers, and goldsmiths. From the artisans who designed and assembled the outfits to the families who amassed fabulous wardrobes, Frick's wide-ranging and innovative interdisciplinary history explores the social and political implications of clothing in Renaissance Italy's most style-conscious city. Frick begins with a detailed account of the industry itself -- its organization within the guild structure of the city, the specialized work done by male and female workers of differing social status, the materials used and their sources, and the garments and accessories produced. She then shows how the driving force behind the growth of the industry was the elite families of Florence, who, in order to maintain their social standing and family honor, made continuous purchases of clothing -- whether for everyday use or special occasions -- for their families and households. And she concludes with an analysis of the clothes themselves: what pieces made up an outfit; how outfits differed for men, women, and children; and what colors, fabrics, and design elements were popular. Further, and perhaps more basically, she asks how we know what we know about Renaissance fashion and looks to both Florence's sumptuary laws, which defined what could be worn on the streets, and the depiction of contemporary clothing in Florentine art for the answer. For Florence's elite, appearance and display were intimately bound up with self-identity. Dressing Renaissance Florence enables us to better understand the social and cultural milieu of Renaissance Italy.