Could it be that he first painted the tablecloth on a plain weave canvas and after 10 years he painted on that tablecloth…..
Today I had a closer look to the tablecloth that Titian painted on “The Supper at Emmaus”. It shows (again) the importance of precisely analysing patterns, even if they are ‘only’ painted in a painting. I confess that the similarity in the patterns was a surprise to me and curiousely, I could have analysed this earlier.
I had the thought that he owned the tablecloth that he painted in “The Supper at Emmaus” (1530) and that he about 10 years later painted on that tablecloth “The Vendramin Family(1540-45)
Until today I had not precisely analysed it. I thought that a sample in the V&A collection, dated 1300 was a, left over, piece of this canvas. Beteween the latest 2 patterns is no match.
The pictures
-Titian painted the pattern of the tablecloth in “The Supper at Emmaus” (1530) the painting is on a plain weave canvas.
-Titian painted “The Vendramin Family” (1540-45) on a canvas with a pattern.
If we compare both patterns we see these similarities: compare the coloured lines ! Not sure about the 5 ‘spots’ in the tablecloth in the middle of each repeat but in the weave draft this could to be worked out very differently…
