PALIOTTO (pallium, pannus; antealtare, frontale, antependium). — Covering of the altar table, anciently called vestis or pallium, after the 15th century p. (from palliare = to cover).
In the ancient Church, because of the veneration in which it was held, the altar was surrounded with a certain richness and, where possible, covered with sheets of gold and silver, or at least with precious fabrics, as is known for the East from St. Ephraem (d. in 373), the Chronicon Paschale, and St. John Chrysostom. For the West, the famous mosaics of Ravenna (S. Vitale and S. Apollinare) offer a fine example; in the Liber Pontificalis one reads of many rich coverings offered by the popes, for example by Pope Zaccaria (741–52) for the basilica of S. Pietro, and by others who covered the altar on every side, or at least on its two principal sides. But after the 11th century, when the altar was placed against the wall of the church, that is, at the back of the apse, only its front part was covered, whence the names ante-altare, frontale, antependium.
The Caerimoniale episcoporum (l. I, cap. 12, n. 2) does not prescribe it, but recommends its use; in the Missal (Rubr. gen. tit. XX) it is stated that the p. should be made, if possible, in the colors of the feasts and of the Office.
1912, pp. 218–24; Italian translation, I paramenti sacri, Torino 1914, pp. 171–76; id., Der christl. Altar, Monaco 1924, pp. 9–12; G. Destefani, La S. Messa nella liturgia romana, Torino 1935, pp. 121–26; M. Righetti, Man. di storia liturgica, I, 2ª ed., Milano 1950, pp. 430–33. Pietro Siffrin
ART. - Belonging to centuries from which no cloth paliotti survive are some extremely precious altar coverings in goldsmith’s work, ivory, and marble. Among the oldest examples, dating from the middle of the 8th century, is the marble paliotto of Duke Rachis’s altar in the church of S. Martino at Cividale, originating from S. Giovanni, a masterpiece of naïve and primitive art; among the most outstanding is the gold and silver paliotto of the altar of the basilica of S. Ambrogio in Milan, where the Magister Vnolicinus (835) employed every variety of goldsmithing technique (repoussé, niello, enamel) with incomparable refinement, following models proper to Carolingian art and predominantly Byzantine technique.
Dating from the 11th century are the gold paliotto, held to have been a gift of Henry II (1014-24), formerly in the cathedral of Basel and now in Paris, in the Musée de Cluny, and the altars of the Treasury of Conques. Examples are more numerous from the 12th century: the Byzantine-influenced paliotto, divided into panels of ivory with Scenes from the Old and New Testaments, now disassembled but preserved almost intact in the sacristy of the cathedral of Salerno; the silver paliotto with the Redeemer and Scenes from his life in the cathedral of Città di Castello; and that of Patriarch Pellegrino II (1195-1204), with Venetian and Byzantine-influenced features, in the collegiate church of S. Maria Assunta at Cividale. From the 13th century there is an example of a paliotto with white and green marble inlays, with triangular and lozenge-shaped tesserae, divided into three panels by trefoil arches, in the abbey of Fiesole, formerly at the altar of S. Romolo, by the master Costantino, as is shown by the inscription of 1273; and in the abbey of Sesto al Reghena in Friuli there is a reassembled paliotto by a Byzantine-influenced sculptor, perhaps Lombard. At Pistoia, in the church of S. Jacopo, the silver antependium, whose oldest parts (1287) present figures of the Virgin and the Apostles within Gothic architectural settings; also at Pistoia, the chased altar by the Pistoian Andrea d’Ognabene dates from 1316. In the sacristy of the cathedral of Ascoli Piceno there is preserved a silver paliotto from the second half of the 14th century, of cruder workmanship, with Scenes from the life of the Redeemer; the paliotto in the collegiate church of Monza, the work of the Milanese Borgino del Pozzo (1350-57), displays an equal technical ineptitude.
From the beginning of the 15th century dates the paliotto in the Baptistery at Florence, by the Florentines Betto di Geri and Leonardo di ser Giovanni (1366); in Venice, in the Treasury of S. Marco, is the paliotto of Gregory XII (1408), of which only the architectural decorations and figures are original. Among the rare examples of wooden paliotti is the Valle d’Aosta example, preserved in the Museo civico of Turin, with Romanesque and Gothic elements and French infiltrations.
Many cloth paliotti can be attributed to the 13th century; a magnificent example is in the Cinquantenaire Museum in Brussels, two in the cathedral of Anagni, one in the cathedral of Salzburg, two in the Historical Museum of Bern, one in the Historical Museum of Dresden, and one belonging to the Mass vestments of the Order of the Golden Fleece in the Court Museum of Vienna. All are highly valuable and well preserved works, closely connected with elements of the painting of the period, true masterpieces of needle painting (v. RICAMIO).
In Italy, the two paliotti in the Treasury of Anagni Cathedral, recorded among the gifts of Boniface VIII, are important: the first, a rare example of northern-school art, with the Tree of Life; the second, inspired by Cavallini, a work of central Italy, with Scenes from the life of Jesus, the Virgin, and the Saints.
A paliotto imported from the East is in the Galleries of Genoa, donated to the city by the Emperor Michael Palaeologus (1271-76), who is depicted there being introduced into the cathedral by S. Lorenzo.
Works from the beginning of the 14th century are in the Provincial Museum of Hannover and in the cathedral of Halberstadt; in Italy, particularly noteworthy is the antependium, of uncertain provenance, in the church of S. Maria at Zara, which Toesca regards as designed by a follower of Duccio, Cecchelli as a local monastic work, and Coletti as the work of a follower of Paolo Veneziano.
In the Pitti, in the Museo degli argenti, there is a paliotto embroidered by Jacopo di Cambio, formerly in S. Maria Novella; and, likewise in opus florentinum, with embroidery partly in relief and with painted shading in the flesh tones (Toesca), is the large paliotto by the celebrated embroiderer Geri di Lapo, from the church of S. Maria at Mancesa in Catalonia. Beautifully historiated paliotti from the 15th century are also preserved: in the basilica of S. Francesco at Assisi, the paliotto of Sixtus IV in embroidered silk, perhaps designed by Pollaiuolo; at Siena, in the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, another paliotto with Scenes from the life of Christ and figures of Saints; at the Madonna del Monte of Varese, a paliotto donated by Beatrice d’Este and Lodovico il Moro (1491); in the Poldi Pezzoli Museum of Milan, a paliotto with the Sforza emblem; at Cortona, in the church of S. Francesco, the Passerini paliotto; in the collegiate church of S. Gemignano, the paliotto with golden doves around the monogram of Jesus (1449); and at Florence, in S. Maria Novella, an important brocade paliotto with embroidery depicting fourteen Little Scenes from the Life of the Virgin. The Bavarian National Museum and Bruges (Civic Hospital) preserve magnificent examples of paliotti in Gobelin tapestry.
Purely ornamental motifs predominate in the later paliotti; in Rome, the collection in the church of S. Maria della Vallicella is important. But in the 16th century there are also historiated paliotti, at the centre and along the borders, amid floral decorations: in the Vatican Museum of Sacred Art, the paliotto designed by A. Allori with the Deposition; in Florence, on a paliotto in the National Museum, from about 1580, there are medallions with figures of Saints and, at the centre, the Deposition; in Siena, on another paliotto in the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, the widespread pomegranate motif triumphs within a frieze bearing figures of the risen Christ, the Virgin, and the Magdalene. Alternatively, decorative motifs frame the mottos and emblems of the donors (v. Borromeo family).
In Italy, paliotti from the 18th century are preserved: V. S. Francesco at Assisi; in Milan, in the Castello Sforzesco, formerly at Lorico in Valtellina; in Siena, in the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, bearing the arms of Alexander VII; and in Brescia, in the new Cathedral, with those of Bishop Ottobon