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THE CENTRES OF PRODUCTION

period fl Icaiher hangings were vay much in voguc). Ba when I camc afterwardt Vauct I noccd BS W oftłm Thcyarc madc ofa pretty kind oflcuibcr and f ! I.. I; fl11■ abodei rfcammm in Vcnicc - \.. when you come iuio one of (hen PaUco. ..)wirf!mmcmaii*>tłKParadise(fVcmForfhcirfaircicroornc^ fl BHp to behold, thl wallcs round ibout being adomed with mmc sumpuoui opony and fl leathcr, juch as I havc spokenofin my Trealisc od Padua*.¹ Tłoim^ dhtfu hu filii inagilded pałace 1 dcpictcd by Tidan in his Kwo/UrMUfci florena), the gik Icaiher hangings being vi»blc in the top right-hand corncr.

Fnadi Lenygon, in thl aniele akeady refated to,¹ wrote: 'At Vcnice, whoethean of fiUing was broo^K to a high sute of perfcction, ic was natural that finc gik lcatha work Md be potben and itmay be gcnerally said, both of the products of Venice and of odm Itahao cemm, that lek dedgos arc idemical with their textilcs... Duringd* Koaoeah OttuJ the ttadc in stamped leathcr yielded about one hundred ducats mdy 10 the Sfl whik there wat ar kast scvtmy-one shops engaged in de business. The maken of 'CuorUm in this goldcn age formed a branch of the Guild of Paintcn, ba the succecding amury was one of rapid decay and the $cventy-one shops m rc* duccd to four... They were ablc, howern, to undettake, in 1790, a comnctfcrooe thousand pieca whkh wete 'spłendidly executed'.^J like the other amstic fabrics of Vcaicc» wrawring, it sdfacd fiom the depression and impovcrishmcnt subscquent Bpoo the dedine of ber commcra, a dedine whkh naturalły aflccted an expcmive and lozurious commodity such as gilt leathcr,^ł The same writer also stated that the French tnwtłkt, Mioon, Dotked the use of gik hangings in the bouses of the wealthy in Vcnict aboa 16SI, ba this refecna bas na been traced. Earlier (1581-a) Michel de Monoignc⁴ had rełćned to the abundam use of gilt hangings in Romę where he found rooms somc-what BEJ funusbed than in Park In vicw of the abovc it is rather cxtraordinary da one fadswfew mmpksof giltlcatkt hangmgs in Italy.

Another way, adopted in Italy, of usinga kind of gjltleather wasfiłtupholsteringchain in tbe sotnteciuh amury. For this, laige areas would be hand-tooled with boM dtsigns induding acamhus saolls and pomegranates and the materiał thenfutedto woodwol (Ab larp-headed boss oaik No padding was osed.^s

I Cays.Hmm, Cmjdi Cnfeb, I6ii. EAóoo of 1905, l p. 403.

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»Tbń infijrmańoo is uta fiom Moracchio, M., httimu 41 ławr k urfi It diii, rifwŁtt «flr m m t tOt

Kpmf, H1790. W- iao-ias (Bibliom Nniooak, Ycnice, 14.0.1 u).

I Moouignt, Micbd de, Jmid k V§wt m tak. Ed. Conurd, 192I, P. 194.

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