Drapery as the basic clothing material of Ancient Greek was hung or wrapped around the body and used in a functional manner. Its reflection to art was only a depiction of the real world in sculptures. As a matter of fact its form inspired other mediums as architecture too; as the fluctuations on the surface of doric columns are a reflection from the folding of the drapery. This representation of the drapery changed during the 15th century when it started to be a representation of the pictorial stylization in the traditional mediums. I conceive that as art started to become for art’s sake, the drapery started to gain a two significant meaning: fantasy and death.
Drapery accentuates the hidden yet still hide what is under it. The vast depiction of drapery in any kind of nude painting or sculpture seems more than just an aesthetical element in the composition. Especially in Renaissance Venice, another tradition has arisen as depicting draperies sensuality to an erotic art scene. The subject matter could be a Roman Goddess, nor the boys could be John the Baptist, yet they were depicted as semi-erotic quasi-portraits. For instance, in Tintoretto’s painting model kindly exposes her breast the silk drapery has been draped over her nude shoulders.
Jacopa Tintoretto, Woman Uncovering her Breasts, 1570
Besides the fantasy, when drapery’s sense of death is coming into prominence? The pall over the coffin is not only a shroud or coverage but also has a symbolic value. The folding and unfolding of a piece of cloth as a domestic activity can remind and symbolize the death to us every day. Monet’s painting of her wife Camille, lying on her bed, her face is shrouded in a veil, covered in a blue fabric entire which body gives her a gravy look and accentuates her entity. Thus how an object that has a significant reliance on death can also indicate the fantasy?
Claude Monet, Camille Monet in Her Death Bed, 1879
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