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Video: What masterpieces were created by the last man of the Renaissance: the underappreciated genius of the Venetian Leonardo
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo was one of the most talented creative minds of his time. He worked mainly in Italy and was known for his Art Nouveau fabrics, including pleated silk dresses and velvet scarves. Why did his contemporaries call him the last man of the Renaissance, and what inventions is this underappreciated Leonardo famous for?
Biography
Mariano Fortuny (full name Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo) was born on May 11, 1871 in Granada, Spain. He was a man who dedicated his life to art and became famous throughout the world for his Art Nouveau fabrics, which have adorned the best museums, churches, palaces and houses since 1906. Fortuny was an accomplished innovative designer, architect, inventor, couturier and lighting technician. His father, Mariano Fortuny y Marsal, was also an artist and collector of ancient oriental fabrics and carpets, rare pottery and metal weapons.
The boy lost his father in 1874, so he and his uncle moved to Paris, where he studied painting. In 1889, he moved with his mother to Venice and lived there for the rest of his life. Passionate about painting, Fortuny was also interested in photography and scenography. Under the influence of all these crafts, he learned to control all processes in his projects. For example, for the theater, he created innovative lighting techniques, invented his own dyes and fabrics for decoration, as well as machines for printing on fabrics. Collectively, Fortuny has received over 20 patents for his inventions.
Fortune Dresses
Around 1907, Fortuny's dresses, which were inspired by ancient Greek culture (tunic and peplos), became extremely popular among the upper circles of Paris. These were gorgeous and light silk dresses with delicate colors and freedom of movement. Some of these dresses were simple to wear, while others had hundreds of tiny folds extending from neck to feet.
In the same 1907, Fortuny created his most spectacular Art Nouveau dress, Delphos. It was made of pleated silk and was popularized by theatrical legends Isadora Duncan and Sarah Bernhardt. Created in a revolutionary way and inspired by ancient Greek style, long dresses were simple and loose, skillful and very comfortable. The edges of the piece were usually trimmed with colored Venetian glass beads, which were both decorative and functional. All pleated and printed silk, dresses and scarves were hand-made in his workshop, as were the multicolored velvet, satin lining, silk thread and belts.
Fortune lamps
At the turn of the century, he experimented with the use of electric light in stage design and also worked with the famous Italian writer Gabriele D'Annunzio. For the interior decoration, he created elegant Fortuny lamps that scattered subtle light through opalescent silk shades stretched over a thin wire form. The silk was hand-painted with gold motifs inspired by oriental art, and the lamps were decorated with glass beads and silk thread as a finishing touch.
Fortuny Scarf
In the early 1900s, Fortuny created the “Knossos scarf,” made of rectangular silk with an asymmetrical geometric print. To create products, silk was dyed in all sorts of colors, applying different patterns or color combinations. Fortuny created some of the finest and most timeless pleated silk dresses and velvet scarves. It still remains a mystery: how exactly were such delicate and thin folds on silk obtained? Scarves gave the female body more freedom of movement. They were created in an attempt to combine shape and fabric. The beauty of Fortuny's products lies in elegant simplicity, perfect cut, excellent material quality and richness of colors. All these aspects, ideally combined with each other, make Fortuny's clothes a real work of art.
Fortuny painting
With all the abundance of inventions, it is impossible not to note the painting of Fortuny, because this is the master's main love! His works were inspired by the floral patterns of Ottoman textiles, sumptuous Renaissance embroidery and abstract patterns, the vibrant colors of Persian art.
In Italy, Mariano Fortuny founded his laboratory workshop in the magnificent Palazzo Pesaro Orpheus, which later became Palazzo Fortuny, now the Museum of Fortuny. Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo died in his Venetian palace in 1949 and was buried in the Roman Church of Verano.
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