The Medici Cheetah Cotton Silk Pareo
This Cotton/Silk Pareo is constructed in London from our ethereal, lightweight voile. It features a rectangular shape with ribbon ties to offer a multitude of styling options; as an elegant beach wrap around the hips, twisted at the centre front to create a skirt, knotted at the neck to create a simple dress or folded into a wrap top, these are just a few possible variations of the versatile pareo.
The Medici Cheetah was inspired by Italian Renaissance paintings and cultural events alongside beliefs and attitudes of the era; the dichotomy of idealism versus naturalism opening a portal to landscapes of fantasy, a ‘New World’. Within a scene largely inspired by The Arrival in Bethlehem by Master LC, we find mythological or fantasy buildings such as the Tower of Babel (Bruegel The Elder), juxtaposed with real architecture from Medici Florence and its surroundings, such as The Tower of Pisa, the Basilica di Santa Croce, and the Battistero di San Giovanni. Our feline protagonist lounges in the foreground, reclining like Titian’s Venus D’Urbino, the languid, skyward gaze a common feature of Renaissance portraiture. Late in 1487, the sultan of Egypt presented a female giraffe to Lorenzo de' Medici, which appears within the landscape of this design preparing for the carnival, with several other impressive but nonindigenous creatures. Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights also contained a giraffe, an elephant and a leopard, alongside anachronous plants, red fruits, and flowers, here in the form of white tulips, cherries and pomegranate, symbolising the blood and flesh of Christ and illustrated in the fashion of Schreiber’s illuminated manuscripts. During the Renaissance, the columbine was primarily a Christian symbol, particularly associated with the Holy Spirit due to its dove-like appearance. The banded sky references a 1465 painting, La Divina Commedia di Dante, by Domenico di Michelino, located in the Florence Cathedral.
The whimsical text within the design is a play on Titian’s The Venus D’Urbino.
Every Sabina Savage product arrives individually gift wrapped as standard.
Please view our Gift Wrapping page for further details on how each product is packaged.
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UK: Free / 1-2 business days
USA: $20 / 2-5 business days
EU: €30 / 3-5 business days
Rest of World: £30 / 5-7 business days
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