by Laura Valdesi
SIENA
Mama Lucia would be proud of that dazzling and light work. Precious and alluring. An embrace from the Virgin in Siena and the Palio. “This Drappellone is for her, I lost her in May last year”, says Giovanni Gasparro. Who gets excited again, like when an ovation welcomes the Drappellone di luce. The one that sends back the cloak of the Madonna where the name of the Contrada that will win is not written (yet).
Gasparro, had promised that there would be no signs for the Contrade, the coats of arms are all with gold thread embroidery.
“I almost wanted to eliminate them under this divine protection by simulating that they had been embroidered with gold thread. Gold is an attribute of the divine, as Siena taught the world through its medieval polyptychs, precisely, with a gold background. I wanted the Contrade to feel blessed by the Virgin. I hope it can be a good omen for the people of Siena and for all of us.”
No symbols, but then the Sienese will find them there.
“I believe there is a fairly wide margin for research but nothing that started in a deliberate manner. It was my choice, there is no allusion to one Contrada rather than another”.
However, the Giraffe coat of arms is the one higher up, towards the Virgin. And the order of drawing lots is not respected.
“It’s higher up but in a casual way, it wasn’t wanted. In the compositional order it seemed the most suitable for that place only due to the shape of the coat of arms. Nothing linked to the Contrada. Even if the Giraffe actually brought me in Siena for the first painting for the basilica of Provenzano. I arrived in Siena in 2016 with a double commission of works for the collegiate church. Therefore I felt that I had almost been called back to the city for the maximum tribute to the Madonna of Provenzano with the Palio is dedicated to her.”
What effect did the convinced and very long applause have on you?
“It was unsettling because the Drappellone painter is the one who fears the reaction to its creation”
Did you imagine it like this?
“Absolutely not”.
The idea of the Virgin’s cloak coming down and becoming Drappellone itself: how did it come about?
“During the study phase, I tried to look at the works in the context as much as possible. I had visited all the museums, the Sienese collections, the churches. However, I had a sort of electrocution thinking that the Madonna’s veil could become Drappellone when looking at the Majesty of Simone Martini. At that moment I developed this idea without changing it.”
He visited Siena, its museums and the works they preserve, the streets and buildings.
“I tried to understand the cultural, social and spiritual dynamics and everything that is individually intertwined in the world of the Palio and makes it a universe as fascinating as it is indefinable in its uniqueness”.
Axel Hémery, director of the national museums of Siena, speaks of Drappellone as “bold in his classicism”, ‘reading’ Gasparro’s Palio. “The primordial symbol for this great connoisseur of religion and mysticism is the immaculate white of purity and moral perfection. A white that unites the celestial and earthly register”, adds Hèmery. And this Cencio is also a curtain that rises not only on the Piazza e una Carriera but above all on the ‘world city’ of Siena. To contrast this expanse of white here is the presence behind the scenes of the Porta Palio. It symbolizes the part of shadow that surrounds every mystery. “Brilliant idea – admits Hèmery – to reduce the gallop of horses to a single shoe whose loss has marked many careers, exhibited by a putto like a trophy”.
