All posts tagged: 1500s

Saints heads

These early 16th century reliquary busts of saints in the collections of the Cloisters both intrigued and repulsed me. I love the women’s serene faces, their elaborate hairstyles and meticulously rendered clothes. I’m amazed by how precise the carving is, and how vivid the colours some 500 years later. They are such beautiful, unique, examples of what was admired and desirable in women in late Renaissance Belgium. At the same time, I can’t get past what they are: reliquary boxes. Containers for holding human remains: the skulls and other bones of saints. There are little doors in the top of the heads so that they could open the heads on feast days. I presume that the bones were removed long before the busts made it to the Cloisters, but I still have trouble adjusting my beliefs on how human remains should be treated with the attitudes and customs of the Renaissance Catholic Church. It’s another example of how my aesthetic attraction to the past constantly makes me consider and question my modern beliefs and attitudes, …

French queens and the fleur-de-lys – part 2

Published by The Dreamstress

Following on from last week’s post, Anne and Marie were far from being the only French queens to wear blue fleur de lys dresses (which may or may not have incorporated at least part of the same garments) Margaret of Valois, the first wife of Henry IV of France (Marie de Medici was his second), was one: And two generations before her, Claude of France, the mother in law of the infamous Catherine de Medici, was painted in a fleur de lys cloak. It is unclear, however, if the painting was commissioned during her life, or during Catherine de Medici’s, so the cloak may not be historical. Skipping forward in time, Anne’s daughter in law, Marie Therese of France, was painted in a dress with a modified fluer de lys bodice (possibly the same, or at least partly the same, as the dress worn by Anne in 1646). In contrast to the rivalry shown in Anne and Marie de Medici’s portraits, Marie -Therese’s painting is probably meant to honour her mother in law, with whom …

Rate the Dress: Salome by Cranach the Elder

Published by The Dreamstress

Alas, last week’s Worth ensemble got no love, despite it’s universally popular peacock blue colour. The proportions were deamed to be totally off, and the dress received a 4.5 out of 10. This week, we look at another frock that may have proportional problems. Lucas Cranach the Elder, for all of his skills, isn’t noted for his anatomically accurate representations of the female physique. Whether his depictions of their fashions is any more accurate is unknown, so we shall just have to rate 16th century German dress on what he chose to show us. Cranach paints that favourite 16th century German subject: the biblical temptress Salome carrying the gruesome trophy that her charms and wiles won her. Rather than wearing biblical dress, Salome wears a gown of the 1530s in dark rust red with gold trim, elaborate sleeves, a lavish assortment of gold necklaces, and a rather rakish feather adorned wreath. Salome’s less than appealing accessory aside, how do you feel about her frock? Rate the dress on a scale of 1 to 10.