Weaving Ideology: Textiles in Florentine and Venetian Painting of the Cinquecento

Authors

• Ruben Verità, Macalester CollegeFollow

Document Type

Honors Project

Comments

Honors Thesis Advisor: Dr. Jacob Eisensmith

Abstract

Renaissance art historical scholarship has largely ignored the political and cultural significance woven into the representation of textiles, as well as their communicative potential in paintings. In this study, I examine how textiles in their various forms carry the potential to go beyond their normative categorization as decoration. Through a comparative analysis of the paintings produced in two politically distinct polities—Florence and Venice—during the sixteenth century, I integrate Louis Althusser’s theory of ideology and Michael Baxandall’s period eye to elucidate how painted fabric was not the representation of a passive decorative ornament. Rather, it was an active and legible proxy for State power and influence, mediating subliminal ideological messages and materially evoking the interpellation of individual as subject.

Recommended Citation

Verità, Ruben, "Weaving Ideology: Textiles in Florentine and Venetian Painting of the Cinquecento" (2026). Art and Art History Honors Projects. 29.
https://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/art_honors/29