Description
“Optics in Italian Paintings from the Middle Ages” series
This year’s microfiber celebrates the 67th anniversary of Urbano’s entry into eyewear production (Safilo, Calalzo di C., October 18, 1946).
The painting depicts Saints Peter and Paul (c. 1490) and was part of a Polyptych by Carlo Crivelli (Venice 1435?-Ascoli Piceno 1495).
It was originally located in the cathedral of Camerino in the Marche region, which was destroyed in the 1799 earthquake. It was recovered from the rubble by a carpenter who used it as a planing table, partially destroying it. It was later sold to the Italian state and preserved at the Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice. It is now at the Pinacoteca di Brera, reassembled with the Madonna della Candeletta with Saints Ansovino and Girolamo. Although he no longer worked in Venice after around 1460, Crivelli continued to sign himself “Carolus Crivelli Venetus.”
The riveted spectacles worn by Saint Peter, intent on reading, are incredibly detailed, and are decorated along the arms with numerous white dots.
