Tapestries

Tapestries are handmade textiles produced with a neutral color warp system and many polychrome wefts. Yarns are usually made of wool and are thick, but for more precious tapestries silk, gold and silver are used.
In the fifteenth century in Venice there are many tapestry workshops managed by French and Flemish workers.

Tapestries of the Passion (1408 - 1427)
These woollen tapestries, the earliest evidence of a cycle woven on a model by an Italian painter, Nicolò di Pietro, are attributed to Arras, which was probably entrusted with their execution in a workshop set up in Venice.
The account of the Passion of Jesus depicted in the ten panels follows the austere, dignified styles of German influence, intentionally synthetic and purified of the cruder aspects of Christ's suffering. It is also influenced by the centuries-old custom of sacred representations and by some mosaic scenes in the basilica.
The dimensions of the four cloths (two of five and two of seven metres in length), seem related to their original destination, the chancel of St. Mark's.

Last Supper
Tapestries of the Passion

Jesus before Pilate
Tapestries of the Passion

Crucifixion
Tapestries of the Passion

Resurrection
Tapestries of the Passion

Cardinal Zen' Tapestries (1484 - 1501)
Not many fragments remain of the thirty-two tapestries bequeathed by cardinal Giovanni Battista Zen on his death in 1501. He was the last to be buried in the basilica in the chapel built for him. The cardinal, born in Venice in 1439, lives long under the protection of Alexander the 6th in Rome where he could have bought or ordered the tapestries.
The fragments of Flemish tapestries are only a small part of the precious legacy of Giovanni Battista Zen (1439-1501), but nevertheless sufficient to recognise the extraordinary quality of these works.
The largest and most important of them is The triumphal train of an emperor who, on a wagon drawn by white horses, is crowned by a figure of winged victory.
The proof of its being part of the Zen collection is the cardinal's crest, partially visible at top right.

Cardinal Zen's tapestries
The triumphal train of an emperor

Cardinal Zen's tapestries
The triumphal train of an emperor , detail

Tapestries with the stories of St. Mark (1550 - 1551)
The four big tapestries in polychrome silks, gold and silver intended to decorate the western sector of the chancel in the basilica, where the ducal throne and the seats of the Signiory stood, are the work of Giovanni Rost, a Flemish tapestry weaver in the service of the Medici, under the direction of the proto Jacopo Sansovino.
Each of the four tapestries is based on an important event of the hagiography of St. Mark. The identification with the saint is made easier by the dark and curl hair and by the colour of the vestment (red tunic and blue mantle) of the portrayed figure.
They show episodes from the life of St. Mark, set in Alexandria, Egypt: the miraculous healing of the shoemaker Anianus; the baptism of Anianus, become Mark's disciple; the liberation of one possessed and the martyrdom of St. Mark.
Giovanni Rost signed the tapestry with the martyrdom of St. Mark: a roast on a spit under the letters FF, separated by a crowned lily, indicating the city in which the work was accomplished (Fatti a Firenze - Made in Florence); below is the date 1551.