It is maybe rare nowadays to visit a Catholic church and find certain architectural features, such as columns, partitions or sections of walls, covered in decorative fabrics. Yet this tradition of dressing up architectures in precious textiles still exists in Italy, especially for what regards historical churches. In these rare cases the fabrics covering the architectural elements are often made by prestigious historical companies, such as Tessitura Bevilacqua, famous for its velvets.
This company started collaborating with churches supplying textiles for liturgical furnishings and vestments after receiving important awards at the Brussels Universal Exposition in 1910 and the International Exposition of Turin in 1928.
After working closely with the Vatican and dressing churches and basilicas in their soft and luxurious velvets, Bevilacqua also received the title of "papal supplier" in the '50s.
Creating velvets for sacred spaces and architectures is not a mean feat as you must know your historical and biblical references and iconography and be able to borrow from different times and styles (early Christian symbolisms are often combined with Byzantine, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque and Neoclassical elements) to create unique designs that complement the architectures.
The archives of the Tessitura Bevilacqua preserve samples of precious velvets designed for various churches. Among them there are samples of soprarizzo ivory velvet on gold created for the Benedictine monks of the Abbey of Praglia.
Designed in 1934 this velvet featured motifs from the Eucharistic liturgy (such as the Paschal lamb, grapes hinting at the blood of Christ, an anchor representing hope, a dolphin symboling salvation and the Eucharistic pelican, an allegory of Christ's supreme sacrifice) harmoniously combined with the coats of arms that identify the patron.
The company opted instead for a crimson silk soprarizzo velvet for the Benedictine monks of the Santa Giustina church in Padua. Created again in 1934 this design revolves around floral motifs such as leaves and pomegranate flowers enclosing the initials of saints venerated in the church.
Some of the most beautiful velvets created by Tessitura Bevilacqua decorate the churches in and around Venice: the Cathedral of Caorle, boasts handwoven soprarizzo "Fioroni" (Large Flowers) velvets with large floral motifs of Baroque inspiration; red and gold soprarizzo velvets with rococo floral motifs also decorate the basilica of the Madonna della Salute.
The Sant’Alvise velvet in the eponymous church features instead a sunflower, peonies and hazel twigs. Sunflowers indicate devotion and peonies, on the other hand, are often used as a symbol of the Virgin.
The high altar with the Coronation of the Virgin altarpiece and the pillars of the presbytery of the church of San Zulian, characterized by an explosion of naturalistic elements typical of the "Jardinière" motifs are upholstered with Bevilacqua's handwoven soprarizzo velvets with a gilded ground and red architectural elments with spaces between them filled by lozenges, flowers, berries, grapes and buds.
There was a long philological research behind these velvets: as documents about the original San Zulian's fabrics were lost, these fabrics were recreated following descriptions from oral sources and by drawing comparisons with other "giardino" velvets. But the research aspect and the symbolisms behind these fabrics are just some of the reasons why these textiles dressing sacred spaces are unique: being handwoven these textiles can indeed be considered as couture fabrics destined to add visual - and tactile - enrichment to these spaces.
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