Dresses, brooches and hair: approaching Renaissance fashion

I spent the past week looking at Venus and Mars from a different point of view. I felt a bit stuck with all the “provenance thing” so I decided to change my approach and examine aspects of bodily display. My investigation started from Venus who I find intriguing, especially for the plaits that become part of the dress, joint together by a brooch on the chest. I wondered whether the hair, the dress and brooch were typical in Renaissance Florence (perhaps associated with a particular group of people?) and if similar examples could be found in contemporary paintings. I therefore collected some material on the topic that we ladies are so fond of: fashion.

Evelyn Welch’s Art on Edge: Hair and Hands in Renaissance Italy (2008) was a great starting point for my research. In her article she stresses the importance of examining all aspects of bodily display, often ‘mechanism for displaying status and position’, such as the hair, ‘a powerful symbol of individual and group identity’. Comforted by the fact that the study of hair has actually raised some interest in the past, I searched for Florentine terms comparisons that could help me putting in context Venus and her hair. I turned my attention to Virtue and Beauty: Leonardo's 'Ginevra de' Benci' and Renaissance Portraits of Women, the catalogue of an exhibition held at the National Gallery of Washington in 2001 that brought together portraits of wealthy ladies of Renaissance Florence. By flicking through the book I soon realized that Botticelli’s Venus was miles away from those portraits that represented women in profile with their hair gathered up in gorgeous buns, often enriched with veils and jewels.  Jacqueline Herald’s Renaissance Dress in Italy 1400-1500 (1981) offered the perfect guide into the many categories of Renaissance hair accessories: the rete (knotted nets of silk or gold threads which often incorporated pearls and sometimes other gems); strings of jewels like pearls ‘trailed through the loops and twists of real and false hair’; brooches and pendants worn on headdresses. 

Brooches were also used for functional/decorative purposes on dresses. Generally called fermaglio, a brooch was often used to fasten cloaks or worn as a jewel on ladies’ shoulders. Brooches consisted of different parts, normally combining together pendants, pearls and precious stones. They were often offer by the groom to the bride together with her wedding outfit. For instance Marco Parenti (Florence, c.1421-1497) bought the dressing gown of his future wife and added a golden brooch set with two sapphires and three pearls. The various uses of these jewels are witness in paintings. I had hard time trying to identify a ‘chest brooch’ like the one Venus is wearing. One is worn by one of the three Grazie in the Primavera although the shape differs from Venus’. A very similar looking brooch is places on the hat of Isabella d’Este in Titian’s portrait but I doubt there is any connection with Venus as Titian’s is a much later painting. All the other brooches I could found are placed on ladies’ shoulders or head (eg. Filippo Lippi, Potrait of a man and woman, Metropolitan Museum NY here)

                             

I also did not have much luck with dresses. Elaborate display clothing for women became essential in public in order to display their virtue and their husband’s wealth (who would have paid for the dresses). According to Frick’s study, Florentine families saw their clothes as one of the most meaningful aspects of their identity and spent a remarkable amount of money on lavish outfits that they wore in the public streets of city. Once again I turned to contemporary paintings to check ladies dresses and if any relation can be establish with Venus (I’ve looked at chapels such as the Sassetti and Tornabuoni). The goddess dress seems to be simpler – thin, white layers yet still luxurious with golden details – than the other examples that often present detailed brocade and bright colours.

This is just a simple introduction to Renaissance fashion based on what I could gather from a few readings. I am not in the position (yet) to say whether Botticelli’s Venus portrays a real/ideal woman and if it has any connection with Florentine ladies’ look. So far I have not noticed many similarities. However, as the painting is said to celebrate a wedding, I shall be tackle this aspect further, examine bridal bodily display (accessories, dresses, hair) and consider whether they apply to Venus and Mars. I am now collecting some bibliography and I will update my blog as soon as I gain a better understanding of this new exciting topic. In the meantime any suggestions/thoughts/info will be highly appreciated…