Oil on canvas (late 19th century - early 20th century), which until the first half of the last century was used to cover the facade pipes of the G.B. Zordan 1882, at the church of S. Antonio Abate, during Lent and in particular from Passion Sunday, which preceded Palm Sunday, until the night of Holy Saturday, as a sign of mourning and penance, to remember the passion and the death of N.S. Jesus Christ. In tradition and in the history of art, this object has had particular attention from artists, especially painters, who painted cloths of this type. The remaining ones are very rare, due to the easily perishable material: we have seen one, still in situ, probably a copy of ours, in the parish church of Mure di Molvena, enlarged in 1902, to cover the facade of the Giacobbi Maggiotto organ, which now lies dilapidated and unused. The same painted subject is found in the parish church of San Luca, not as an organ cover, but as a fresco decoration of the central nave. More frequently it is possible to admire, in diocesan museums or even in churches, the painted wooden organ cover doors, with the same function of concealing the pipes on the facade: they are usually works of great quality, such as for example in Ferrara, the four canvases by Cosmè Tura (1469) which originally constituted the doors of the organ of the Cathedral, made by the famous master Giovanni da Mercatello; or in Brescia, between 1539 and 1541, the doors of the Antegnati organ painted by Girolamo Romanino for the Duomo Vecchio or those made by Romanino himself for the organ of San Giorgio in Braida in Verona in 1540. In the case of Marostica, the towel measures cm. 278 x 370 and is equipped with a wooden roller around which it was wrapped by pulling a string, of which a part also remains. The author is not yet identified, but it is believed to be from the Veneto region. On this point we promise to carry out an adequate research, making use of all the clues that may emerge from the careful examination of the work and comparing the data in our possession with those of the contemporary sacred pictorial production similar in the local area, proceeding by analogies of contents and styles, if it is not possible to find precise documentation in the archive (customers, payments, testimonials). Found among the abandoned things, in what was the Oratorio dei Carmini until a few years ago before the restoration, i.e. a warehouse/closet left in the most complete neglect, now the organ cover is placed close to the wall in the north hall of the Oratory, almost a large decorative tapestry. For the visitor who enters the Oratory by climbing the stairs, it is a visual impact of sure effect.

Albano Berton