PRESS RELEASE • Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana

PRESS RELEASE

His gaze is direct, intense. His dark velvet dress is elegant and incredibly refined. This mysterious man, smiling enigmatically, is the main character of the exhibition The Knight in Black the Poldi Pezzoli Museum from October 2, 2005 to January 15, 2006. The idea of this exhibition comes from the legacy to the Milanese house museum by Annibale Scotti-Casanova in 2002:The Knight in Black. This work is a masterpiece by Giovanni Battista Moroni, one of the greatest portrait painters of the 16th century in Lombardy. The Knight in Black is an imposing full-length portrait, a work of extraordinary pictorial quality as well as a faithful description of fashion in the late Renaissance. The feathered hat, the cloak with velvet stripes and the sword hilt offer a clear example of the sophisticated craftsmanship used at that time by tailors to create fine clothes. This exhibition will be an important opportunity to illustrate Milanese supremacy in the production of luxury goods in the 16th century: production of wonderful textiles and dress making. At the time Milanese tailors