The topics of “The Style of the Tsar” exhibition are deepened in a series of shows involving the main cultural institutions of the city, coordinated by Prato Textile Museum. Starting from their own specific fields, these exhibits develop historical-economical, fashion and costume issues related to the piece of art displayed in the exhibition. The connecting thread of the exhibition is the iconographic dialogue between works of art of painting and textile. The project also aims to bring the visitor into direct contact with the historical, artistic and documentary treasures of the city of Prato.

• Museo dell’Opera del Duomo

18 September 2009 – 5 April 2010

After a long process of restoration one of the finest Filippo Lippi’s work painted especially for Prato has finally come back home. We speak of the Funeral of St. Jerome painted in about 1455 for the Cathedral of Prato. The burial cloth on which the Saint is laid, typical of a textile of the second half of the 14th century, is compared with a lampas of similar manufacture preserved in Prato Textile Museum. In the same room the visitor will see another work which has long been absent from Prato: the panel showing Saints Nicolas and Just by Domenico di Michelino, one of Lippi’s pupils.

8 September 1009 – 5 April 2010

A second exhibit is concerned with an iconographical and stylistic comparison between the painting Faith, attributed to Giovan Maria Butteri and now in the Museo Civico Prato, and the frieze of the Santo Stefano altar-frontal. The similarity between these two works enables us to appreciate the extent of collaboration throughout the 16th century between the workshops of the leading painters and those of the masters of embroidery.

• Duomo, Cappella Maggiore – Frescoes by Filippo Lippi

18 September 2009 – 10 January 2010

In the Cappella Maggiore of the Duomo the visitor is presented with a reading of the two cycles of the stories of St. Stephen and St. John the Baptist developing the analysis of the lay and religious wardrobe in use at the time of Filippo Lippi. The types of garment identify the roles and social status of the various persons in the paintings, and show the changes in taste and style in the course of the 15th century.

• Archivio di Stato di Prato

8 September 2009 – 30 June 2010

The exhibition highlights the trades with Levant documented in the rich correspondences of Francesco di Marco Datini, merchant from Prato. The displayed documents reveal the trade routes to the East and the goods that thereby arrived in Europe: silks, animal hides and spices, but also men and women sold as slaves, as well as social and political news.

• Museo Casa Francesco Datini - Fondazione Casa Pia dei Ceppi

18 September 2009 – 10 January 2010

In the Palazzo Datini the visitor will find a specialized exhibition dealing with the history of costume during the late 14th and early 15th centuries, through the analysis of the correspondence of the wealthy merchant Francesco Datini. The language of clothing gives an insight into the everyday life of medieval society, in which costumes and fabrics represent a primary feature of the economy.

• Museo di pittura murale

www.diocesiprato.it

 “The dispersed museum. Masterpieces of Sacred Art from private collections in Prato”
18 September 2009 – 5 April 2010

The Museo di Pittura Murale is displaying Orazio Fidani’s Vision of San Filippo Neri from the Museo Civico side by side with an ornate chasuble from the Duomo of Prato, identical to the one shown in the painting. Also on display in the Museum gallery are paintings containing a specific reference to the art of textiles and the fashion of the times. Thanks to these, and to some fragments of fabrics from the Textile Museum, the exhibit traces the development of the most widespread textile products of the 15th century.

• Galleria di palazzo Degli Alberti

www.galleriapalazzoalberti.it

Special opening
18 September 2009 – 10 January 20100

Throughout the exhibition “The Style of the Tsar”, during guided tours, a particular attention will be paid to the precious fabrics and garments represented in paintings on display in the Gallery.