Renaissance Fabrics
Fashion fabrics of the day came from plants or animals; fabrics typical of the Renaissance period are wool, silk, alpaca, angora, cashmere, cotton and linen. As mentioned above, the Medici were involved in the silk and wool guilds. Although silk was typically imported in Italy from China, by the 1100’s Italy began to produce its own silk and by the 1500’s it was being produced in Lombardy, the Lower Piedmont, Tuscany and Veneto. In Darby’s book Wool The World’s Comforter, he says the “finest wool bearing sheep of our own times are indirect descendants of Roman breeds.”12 Typical Renaissance fabric colors were produced with dyes that
came from nature in the form of bugs and plants producing popular colors such as blue, red, yellow and black.13
In Eleanor of Toledo and Son Giovani (Fig.1), her dress is of a silky satin brocade damask.14 According to Joe Thomas, and based on Know Your Fabrics by Lucy Taylor, it safe to assume that local Florentines wove Eleanor’s dress.15 This would have been a wise choice for Eleanor in light of her Spanish heritage to show her new countrymen that she was embracing their culture, although not to the exclusion of her own. The dress style is noted by Thomas and is thought to be typical Spanish.16
In Maria de' Medici (Fig.2) c. 1551, Maria wears a dress with a sheer silk collar that is sandwiched between a woven ribbon of black and gold, with scroll work, at the top of the bodice.17 Beneath the silk collar and on top of the fabric is another woven ribbon of gold and black or green that butts up against the collar.18 The dress has a sheen typical of velvet, specifically silk. It may have been dyed with “buckthorn berries” or “nettle leaves” which was typical of the color green during the Renaissance.19
Eleanor of Toledo c.1543 (Fig.3), the dress starts with a lace collar of gold, light blue and pearls.20 Beneath the lace is woven ribbon trim that is gold, cream and dark blue. Meeting the collar at the top of the dress is a narrow fabric that is couched in place and beneath it is possibly gold tatting that is sewn on top of the fabric. The color of her dress may have been made from “madder, cochineal, kermes, gain, chay or chaya” reds that were popular during the Renaissance period.21 With its sheen and low pile the fabric may be Italian silk velvet, a typical Renaissance fabric. The white peeking through the sleeve openings and slashes as well as the sleeve may be a silk satin.
10 E. Currie and M.Hayward, (2017) 19-36.
11 E. Currie and M. Hayward, (2017).
12 W. D. Darby, Wool (New York, 1922).
13 E. Currie and M. Hayward, (2017). 19-36
14 A. Bronzino, Eleanor of Toledo and Son Giovanni (Florence,1546) Dress information was obtained by Thomas, J. 1994.
15 J. Thomas, (1994) 262-267
16 J. Thomas, (1994) 262-267
17 A.Bronzino, (Florence, 1551) This dress alone could be analyzed for it fabric, trim and techniques.. In having speculated about the branding of the Medici family, note the metal or glass beads that hang on bows from the slashes at the top of the sleeve. These jewels resemble the pairing of two sets of three round balls on the Medici coat of arms.
18 At first glance this detail work looks like it may have been embroidered directly onto the fabric, however the same ribbon style is on the sleeves which would make it highly unlikely that one would be embroidered and one woven.
19 E. Currie and M. Hayward, (2017). 19-36
20 A. Bronzino, Eleanor of Toledo (Florence, 1543)
21 Hayward, M. 2017
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