Moda Romana



LATEST: Only at the research state as of now



HISTORY:
When the musical Which Witch premiered in West End in 1992, the costume design had a fairly historical accurate approach. Designer Mark Bailey had based many of the lead role costumes on Renaissance portraits, and many cast member costumes could also be found in paintings of the era. The musical is set partly in pre-counter-reformation Rome, and partly in Heidelberg in Germany. For the Roman part I soon enough discovered most of the dresses were Florentine in style, and I started wondering about what Roman fashion might have looked like at this time. Turned out there weren't much to find on the field, so I've had to categorize and analyze as best I can myself. This site is the result of my hunt.

So what IS Roman Renaissance fashion? First, trying to find portraits of Roman females from the mid 1500 isn't easy. There are tons of cardinals, popes and bishops depicted, and also a few large procession scenes. But it seems portraits of (especially young) females, which occurs so frequently elsewhere, is far and few. However, I think the ones I've gathered underneath is representative as Roman portraits, and they all share some distinctive features. The most distinctive feature is the large, golden veil. Veils were used elsewhere too, but the golden colour seems to have been typical for Roman fashion, as courtiers described in Florence i the late 1500's: And she adorns herself with finery and vanity more than ever, and even this morning decided to go to Mass all decked out and with a golden veil on her head in the Roman style... (Landini 2005: 39). But there's also other things which often occurs: the dark hair of the sitter (how often do you see that in Venice and Florence?), and also a love for dark, sober colours in the tight-fitting dress. Lack of jewellery is also prominent - the sitters DO wear a ring or a necklace, but not nearly as much as seen further north.

One thing that do correspond with Florence and Venice, on the other hand, is the love for the square, open neckline in the dresses. Most of the Italic peninsula adapted the more rigid Spanish fashion by the mid and late 1500, which demanded a closed-up dress, maybe even high-necked. But not so in the mentioned cities: "...Spanish fashion did not appear totally dominant: as well as the Tuscan cities, only in Rome, and even more so in Venice, did the ladies continue to display their throats and part of the bosom" (Landini 2005: 84).



SOME PORTRAITS


1. "Portrait of a Lady as saint Agatha", 1540, Sebastiano del Piombo, National Gallery, London
2. "Portrait of Vittoria Farnese", 1546 (?), unknown artist, Budapest Museum
3. "Portrait of Giulia de' Medici" (possibly), 1559, Alessandro Allori, ?
4. "Portrait of a Lady", 1550's (?), Roman school, in a private collection in Paris
5. "Portrait of Vittoria Colonna" (?), 1550's (?), Roman school, possibly in the Palazzo Colonna in Rome



Portrait of a Lady as saint Agatha:
This lovely portrait, by Sebastiano del Piombo, cannot be set to Rome with absolute certainty, but it's likely. The painter was born in Venice in 1485, and is believed to have trained with Bellini, as well as being influenced by Giorgione. He moved to Rome ca. 1511, being invited by the bankier Agostino Chigi. He stayed in Rome until his death in 1547, except after the sack of Rome in 1527, when he stayed in Venice for a year or two. He was considered the major portraitist in Rome, especially after Raphael's death in 1520, but he also worked with the frescoes in the villa Farnesina and with many religious themes. His earliest female portraits are very Venetian in appearance, with round blonde women in low-cut dresses. This portrait is more sober in style, cooler. Although the lady wears a modern, fashionable dress, she has the attributtes of St. Agatha. These are assumed to be later attributtes, which modern techical examinations supports. Even the artist's signature is thought to be a later addition. Which raise the question: is this painted by Piombo at all? Or one of his temporaries? His workshop? I have no answers, but I definitely think the portrait is very much executed in his style. The dress of the sitter is more colourful than what appears in other portraits, being green with green velvet trims - but then again, the Roman material is so limited that it's hard to say with certainty what was common in Rome and not. But the typical Roman veil is included, and along with the fact that the woman is rather darkhaired (rarely seen in Florence and Venice) it supports the idea of this being a Roman portrait. It was most likely painted in 1540 or early 1540's, and it is today in the care of the National Gallery in London.


Portrait of Vittoria Farnese:
Vittoria Farnese was the daugher of Pier Luigi Farnese and Gerolama Orsini - making her the grand-daugher of Pope Paul III (Alessandro Farnese). She was born in Rome in 1521. In 1548 she married Guidobaldo II della Rovere, duke of Urbino, and hence became duchess of Urbino. She got three children with Giudobaldo: Isabella, Francesco and Lavinia. She also took care of Clelia Farnese, daugher of cardinal Alessandro Farnese (or I think this was the case anyway). Vittoria Farnese died in Pesaro in 1602. The portrait is believed to be painted in 1546, when she was still in Rome. The muted dress with narrow sleeves and the lovely golden veil would indicate that. But I cannot say for sure. Some claim this to be a work of Tiziano Vecellio (Titian); however the attribution is very uncertain (and to my eyes a bit far-fetched). The portrait is now in the care of Budapest Museum. The identification of Vittoria Farnese is largely made on the similarity to other portraits, and on the school to which the portrait belong. Villa Borghese in Rome has a very similar portrait of Vittoria Farnese displayed in their painting gallery. The dark dress and golden veil is pretty much the same, but she's posing a bit different. I've seen this portrait twice, but I haven't succeeded in finding an online version of it (nor does it appear in any books, it seems). I'll keep hunting...


Portrait of Giulia de' Medici (possibly):
This one is attributed to Alessandro Allori. He was a Florentine painter, and pupil and ward of Bronzino. I still wonder if it can be placed within Roman fashion even though the painter and (possibly) sitter is Florentine. Giulia de' Medici (1535-1588) had a long stay in Rome in the late 1550's. She could have picked up the latest dress fashion there, especially if she was painted in Rome as authour Gabrielle Langdon suggests in "Medici Women". Based on pure typologi, I would place it in Rome. But the danger of this typology is that I might see what I WANT to see, and Roman fashion at this time isn't too unlike Florentine fashion. But the general style of the outfit match the others well. The geometrical cutwork sleeves reminds a lot of the portrait underneath, and the golden veil, the very dark hair, the narrow dark dress and the lack of jewellery, apart from a ring or two, is typical for what I for now has defined as Lazio/Roman fashion. It might be the first solo-portrait of an Afro-Florentine woman - reason is that Giulia was the illegitimate daughter of (possibly bi-racial) Alessandro de Medici, duke of Florence, and his mistress Taddea Malaspina.

Other suggest the sitter to be Ortensia Montauto, which is documented to have been painted by Alessandro Allori in Rome by Rafaello Borghini (Pilliod 2001: 179 pp). The upper part of the armrest bears the inscription "Roma 1559". Allori decorated the family chapel of the Montauto family in the 1550's, and they are reckoned as his earliest important patrons. The mentioned Borghini recorded several portraits by Allori's hand; not just that of Ortensia, but also of her husband Tommaso de' Bardi, which was assumed to have recommended Allori for the Montauto family. Allori stayed in Rome from 1554-1560. The portrait is believed to have been painted in 1559 sometime, and it's often been proposed that the sitter is a widow, because of her outfit and because of the vase (symbolising death) carved in the armrest of the chair. After techical examinations it seems that the dress is dark blue (not black), and the veil and partlet fair golden. This might oppose the whole "widow idea" and rather be an expression of the general Roman dress fashion. Gabrielle Langdon believes it to be Giulia Medici, Elisabeth Pilliod believes it to be Ortensia Montauto. They both explain their view well, and they're both open for being mistaken. At least they both agree in it being painted in Rome, and they both attribute it to Allori.


Portrait of a Lady:
I know very little about this portrait, and I only have this poor b/w version. I first saw it through Jennifer Thompson's wonderful costume site, as a reference for her Venetian cutwork sleeves. I then saw it in Carlo Bestetti 1962 Italian costume book. It's there referred to as "Roman school", and being a part of a private collection in Paris somewhere. Again: the veil and the dark hair. Whereas the dark hair isn't typical for Rome alone (it's also frequent in Milan, Bologne and Mantua), the combination of the hairdo and the arrangement of the veil reminds a lot of the ones above. Also, the narrow dark dress seems typical. The cutwork sleeves reminds of what was seen in Venice around 1550/1560, but appears here to be treated more geometrical. The folds of the veil is also a bit peculiar, but similar treatment is found in the portraits of Vittoria Farnese and other paintings, so I assume it's on purpose...


Portrait of Vittoria Colonna (?):
If I knew little of the one overneath, I know even less about this one. I curse myself for the lack of info I've saved as well, all I've written is "unknownattcolonna". I assume I meant that the sitter was a member of the Roman Colonna family, or that the portrait hangs on display in their palace. I also assume I meant it's attributed to being a portrait of the poet Vittoria Colonna of the Colonna family. Although the portrait looks like similar ones also said to be of her (especially those in Sebastiano del Piombo's style), few or none are certain to be of her. Which leaves us with very little. However, the outfit is interesting. Dark-haired lady covering her hair with a golden veil, dark dress... That makes me assume it's Roman, at least, and that can correspond with the Colonna attribution. However, there are two details which makes me a bit uncertain: there's something red to the left in the painting - a red sleeve? A book? Also, it almost looks like the dress has a split in the front bodice, that corresponds more with northern (especially Veneto) style. So... Need to do some more research on this one.



More to come...


REFERENCES:¨

Bestetti, Carlo (1962) "Abbigliamento e costume nella pittura italiana": Rinascimento"
Landini, Roberta Orsi and Bruna Niccoli (2005) "Moda a Firenze 1540-1580", Pagliai Polistampa
Langdon, Gabrielle (2007) "Medici Women: Portraits of Power, Love, and Betrayal", University of Toronto Press
Pilliod, Elisabeth (2001) "Pontormo, Bronzino, Allori. A genealogy in Florentine art"




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