More on Renaissance fashion: weddings and textiles

The last two weeks of research have been particularly pleasant as I had the chance to explore a very ladylike theme, fashion. After have gained a general knowledge on female bodily display by considering ladies’ hair, dresses and jewels, I moved into more specific aspects, namely those related to wedding. Such an interest originated from a simple question that my supervisor helped me thinking through: as Botticelli’s Venus and Mars (National Gallery of London) is considered a panel depicted for the celebration of a wedding, are there any wedding-related elements in the painting that indicate this? All my attention was on Venus: is the goddess’ white dress – brooch included - a bridal dress? Is the cushion she is leaning on a symbol/elements connected to Renaissance weddings? The material I took into consideration was great, it made me come up with further questions and opened new paths of research. Here the results of my week en rose.

The dress. I spent a lot of time looking for information on the colour of bridal dresses in Renaissance Italy. Unfortunately I had no luck with published material (btw, suggestions anyone?) and I therefore turned my attention to visual sources. I gathered a few books (eg. Musacchio, J. M. 2009. Art, Marrige and Family) with a ‘gallery’ of paintings made for weddings. Most of those depictions were parts of furniture (wedding chests, wainscoting, lettucci, etc) used to decorate rooms of the newly married couple. I have to admit that the visual material did not bring much luck either. Only a few of those wedding panels represent wedding processions or banquets in the years I am taking into consideration. The majority however depicts scenes taken from classical episodes where women are the focus of the attention but are rarely brides. The most interesting (and exciting) depiction, was pointed out to me in one of the comments to my previous post (Friday 4^th March 2011). Rachel (thank you!) noticed that the bride in Botticelli’s The Story of Nastagio degli Onesti (Madrid, Prado. See image below)  is dressed exactly like Venus: white dress and chest brooch. As stated in my previous post another Venus outfit is also very similar to what one of the three Graces in Botticelli’s Primavera is wearing. I pointed out the fact that one of them is not only wearing a white dress but also a chest brooch. After have edited my post last week, I came across the information that one of the three Graces, Charis, was said by Homer to be married to Hephaestus. (Il. xviii. 382.) (a good website for classic myths, gods and goddesses is this one) I find this connection really interesting although I am aware that this is not enough to support the idea of Venus + white dress + brooch = bride.

The cushion. While randomly surfing the net in the (desperate) search of ‘renaissance cushions’, I came across a blog called Italian Needlework (you can view it here). One post in particular caught my attention as it was related to goldwork embroidery on clothing and furnishings in Renaissance Italy. The author of the text cited Elisa Ricci’s Old Italian Laces in which a Renaissance wedding trousseaus was mentioned: in the wedding-trousseau of Elisabetta Gonzaga of Montefeltro (1488) the cushions were of crimson satin with a network of gold and silver [...]. The post also quoted the description of Lucrezia Borgia’s wardrobe (1502) in which two cushions of green velvet with tassels and lace of gold appeared.

Excited for having found references to Renaissance cushions/weddings, I extended my research on the presence of these objects in brides’ dowry. I started with At Home in Renaissance Italy, the catalogue of an extraordinary exhibition that explored the Renaissance home in terms of architecture/domestic interior/furnishing & artworks (Victoria and Albert Museum, London 5 October 2006 – 7 January 2007). Two of the numerous sections of the book are dedicated to marriage and textiles. Pulling some of the information together, I learned that cushions and pillows were often to be found in brides’ trousseau (corredo) like Chiara Sforza’s (1489) in which a large number of domestic furnishing such as mattresses and cushions were included. As the dowry aimed at flaunting the generosity of the bride’s family, object were finely decorated: cushions for instance were covered by expensive cases made of silk, often embellished and enhanced with metal threads. This kind of decoration seems to occur on Venus cushion: a red (silk?) case is enriched with golden threads joined in a floral pattern.

                                      Botticelli, Venus and Mars (detail)

From what I could gathered, cushions, together with clothes, tableware, embroidered linen and many other objects, seem to have been part of brides paraphernalia. If linked to the discourse on dresses, there might (or might not?) be some sort of base to hypothesize that Venus bears the iconographic elements of a bride. Things get a bit complicated when it comes to dresses though. The three examples of white dresses cited earlier are taken from three paintings belonging to same artist (Botticelli). It could be argued that representation of women in white dresses with brooches was a sort of habit for the painter considering, moreover, that the three artworks belongs to the same period (c.1480-85).