History

  STANDARD BEARER – DETAIL FROM THE BAS-RELIEFS OF PORTA ROMANA – YEAR 1171 – CITY MUSEUM, MILAN   The raw realism of the coarse bas-relief precisely documents the religious state of the standard bearer, with the wide tonsure which leaves just a crown of hair around his head: the …

  MONKS – DETAIL OF THE BAS-RELIEF OF THE CIBORIUM DATABLE TO THE EARLY XII CENTURY – BASILICA OF SAINT AMBROSE, MILAN   The dark cowls with very wide sleeves, confer a particularly severe disposition to the monk’s apparel.

  SAINT BASIL AND SAINT JOHN CHRYSOSTOM – MOSAIC DATING BACK TO CIRCA 1120 – PALATINE CHAPEL – ROYAL PALACE, PALERMO   The austere majesty of the ecclesiastical attire is clearly depicted in these two drawings of Saints: Saint Basil who belonged to the Eastern Church has a sacred pallium …

  SHOE OF HENRY VI KING OF SICILY – DATING PRIOR TO 1197 (FROM A PAINTING OF “THE GIFT SEPULCHRES OF THE DUOMO OF PALERMO RECOGNIZED AND ILLUSTRATED”; FRANCESCO DANIELE, NAPLES 1794).   The shoe of Henry VI (who died in 1197), which is kept in the king’s sepulchral sarcophagus …

  SOCK (TIBIALIA) OF WILLIAM II THE NORMAN – KUNSTHISTORISCHES MUSEUM, VIENNA   The socks of William II the Norman, which became part of the wardrobe for the imperial coronation, document the fact they belonged to the king of Sicily, not only due to the style of the elegant embroideries …