Oushak Rugs: Lorenzo Lotto's Husband and Wife

Lorenzo Lotto's Husband and Wife

Husband and Wife
1523
Oil on canvas, 98 x 118 cm
The Hermitage, St. Petersburg

The Berlin "Bellini" Rug

This type of rug takes it's name from a rug in a painting by Gentile Bellini.

JBOC Note: Based on work of British artist David Hockney and University of Arizona research scientist Charles Falco it is now thought that this work was created using optical lenses to project a scene onto the canvas. This is valuable in the study of Oriental Rugs because these paintings give us proof that these rugs were created prior to the paintings. It sounds obvious but it is harder to date a rug or type of rug than it is to date the work of a particular artist.

A Further Note: When I originally wrote this page the above paragraph was true to the best of my knowledge.  In other places and at later times I have written about the Stork, Falco, Hockney controversy.  Now Dr. David Stork has graciously sent me a clarification:

David Hockney and Charles Falco have claimed that Lotto used optics when executing the carpet in Husband and wife.  However, more than a dozen scholars in a four-day conference devoted to testing that claim unanimously and in no uncertain terms rejected the optical claim.  Moreover, in other peer-reviewed research, experts such as Christopher Tyler, M. Dirk Robinson, David G. Stork and Sara Schechner have shown the errors and misunderstandings in the optical claims for that painting.  Indeed, over two dozen scholars have examined closely the Hockney optical claim and rejected it, based on a wide variety of optical, image, and art historical facts.

To further clarify things Sara Schechner was kind enogh to email me as well

Dear Mr. O’Connell,
David Stork referred me to your interesting website on oriental carpets. (http://www.spongobongo.com/her9868.htm)
I just want to back up his assertion that Hockney’s and Falco’s thesis---that artists must have used lenses and mirrors to project images of complex objects (like carpet patterns) onto their canvases in order to represent those objects so well—is not only unproven, but also that there is much countervailing historical and physical evidence against it.
Good luck with your carpet site!
Sara Schechner
Sara J. Schechner, Ph.D.
David P. Wheatland Curator of the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments
Department of the History of Science, Harvard University
Science Center 251c, 1 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~hsdept/chsi.html

For other examples please see:

The Darmstadt Madonna by Holbein the Younger

Flower Still-life on Memling Gul Rug

For Further Reading:

Thanks and best wishes,

J. Barry O'Connell Jr.

Persian Rugs

Turkish Rugs

Suzani

Oriental Rugs

Persian Carpets

Baluch Rugs,

The Qashqai and Qashqai Rugs

Veramin Rugs

Tribal Rugs

Khotan-Rugs

Khotan-Carpets

Kirman-Rugs

Kirman-Carpets

Antique-Rugs

Antique-Carpets

Shahsevan-Rugs

Oushak-Rugs

Index to my Rug Notes

Index

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z