xx Historic Costume Study on “Portrait of a Woman with a Lute” 2st Draft XXXXX ARTH-XXXXX Hist Costume Precl-Directoire Professor XXXXX Wednesday, June 3rd, 15 Back to the 14th to the 17th century, when the Europe continent underwent a dramatic revival on society and culture, the movement has a inspiring name “The Renaissance”. During the Renaissance period, art is under an unprecedented renovation. “The style that developed during the Renaissance in art and architecture, textiles, clothing, music, literature, and philosophy were not forgotten, but continued to influence Western culture”[footnoteRef:0] [0: 1. Phyllis G. Tortora and Keith Eubank, Survey of Historic Costume] Italian architecture at the 16th, for example, demonstrates a conscious revival and development of certain elements of ancient Greek and Roman thought. “The simplification of form found its justification in some degree in specific Roman buildings, in part in common attitudes. With it was indissolubly linked a stronger sculptural emphasis, to make this simplicity apparent on the new and sometimes massive buildings by virtue of the more dramatic effect of cast shadow.” Stylistically, Renaissance architecture followed Gothic style at the beginning at was succeeded by Baroque architecture. The same as the architecture style conversion, other art forms are affected by Gothic and Baroque style at the same time. Costume, as the carrier of contemporary culture, perfectly reflect the progressive steps of the history movement: “it was at the beginning of the sixteenth century that art completed the slow transformation which led to the idealization of the human body. To endow it with the power and dignity of which Renaissance man dreamed, artists set themselves to create costumes, combing line and color to produce elegance and harmony.”[footnoteRef:1] As one of the fashion originator, Italian costume style underwent changes with the tide of the history--- “At the end of fifteenth century, Italian costume became influenced by foreign fashions, sometimes French and German, but above all Spanish”[footnoteRef:2] [1: 2&3. Francois Boucher, 20000 Years of Fashion. The History of Costume and Personal Adornment. HARRY N. ABRAMS, INC., Publishers, NEW YORK.] [2: ] The Portrait of a Woman with a Lute, created by Andrea Solario is an Italian Renaissance period masterpiece that vividly demonstrates delicate women costume and entertainment life of Italy citizens. Solario is an outstanding Italian artist, “His peripatetic career between Milan, Venice, Paris and Rome – and his successive association with the Bellini circle, Leonardo da Vinci’s workshop and the French artists at Gaillon- gives an usually revealing perspective to artistic activity north and south of the sixteenth century.”[footnoteRef:3] . [3: 4. David Alan Brown. Review by: Jaynie AndersonThe Burlington Magazine, Vol. 131, No. 1041 (Dec., 1989), pp. 854-855] Let’s start looking at the pa.

1. xx
Historic Costume Study on “Portrait of a Woman with a Lute”
2st Draft
XXXXX
ARTH-XXXXX Hist Costume Precl-Directoire
Professor XXXXX
Wednesday, June 3rd, 15
Back to the 14th to the 17th century, when the Europe continent
underwent a dramatic revival on society and culture, the
movement has a inspiring name “The Renaissance”. During the
Renaissance period, art is under an unprecedented renovation.
“The style that developed during the Renaissance in art and
architecture, textiles, clothing, music, literature, and philosophy
were not forgotten, but continued to influence Western

2. culture”[footnoteRef:0] [0: 1. Phyllis G. Tortora and Keith
Eubank, Survey of Historic Costume]
Italian architecture at the 16th, for example, demonstrates a
conscious revival and development of certain elements of
ancient Greek and Roman thought. “The simplification of form
found its justification in some degree in specific Roman
buildings, in part in common attitudes. With it was indissolubly
linked a stronger sculptural emphasis, to make this simplicity
apparent on the new and sometimes massive buildings by virtue
of the more dramatic effect of cast shadow.” Stylistically,
Renaissance architecture followed Gothic style at the beginning
at was succeeded by Baroque architecture. The same as the
architecture style conversion, other art forms are affected by
Gothic and Baroque style at the same time.
Costume, as the carrier of contemporary culture, perfectly
reflect the progressive steps of the history movement: “it was at
the beginning of the sixteenth century that art completed the
slow transformation which led to the idealization of the human
body. To endow it with the power and dignity of which
Renaissance man dreamed, artists set themselves to create
costumes, combing line and color to produce elegance and
harmony.”[footnoteRef:1] As one of the fashion originator,
Italian costume style underwent changes with the tide of the
history--- “At the end of fifteenth century, Italian costume
became influenced by foreign fashions, sometimes French and
German, but above all Spanish”[footnoteRef:2] [1: 2&3.
Francois Boucher, 20000 Years of Fashion. The History of
Costume and Personal Adornment. HARRY N. ABRAMS, INC.,
Publishers, NEW YORK.] [2: ]
The Portrait of a Woman with a Lute, created by Andrea Solario
is an Italian Renaissance period masterpiece that vividly
demonstrates delicate women costume and entertainment life of
Italy citizens. Solario is an outstanding Italian artist, “His
peripatetic career between Milan, Venice, Paris and Rome – and

3. his successive association with the Bellini circle, Leonardo da
Vinci’s workshop and the French artists at Gaillon- gives an
usually revealing perspective to artistic activity north and south
of the sixteenth century.”[footnoteRef:3] . [3: 4. David Alan
Brown. Review by: Jaynie AndersonThe Burlington Magazine,
Vol. 131, No. 1041 (Dec., 1989), pp. 854-855]
Let’s start looking at the painting from the top to the bottom:
the lady in the painting is wearing a turban-like headdress that
was very popular among 16th century. “The turban style derived
from Turkish headdress and reflected Italian trading contacts
with the Turks of the Ottoman Empire”[footnoteRef:4] Then our
eyes move to her face. She has a round face and she even has a
double chin. Please also take a look at her arms---then we can
make sure that the lady has a plump figure. Actually, a chubby
figure caters to the aesthetic standards of beauty of the time. A
person with slight overweight figure represents he or she live in
rich and peace. Keep looking downwards, The Lady in the
painting is wearing a string of necklace. The breaded necklace
she wears is the style from 16th Century before the Venetian
chains style necklace came to be popular. From my own
observation, the necklace might be consisted of gold beads and
red gems. The red gem is very possibly to be ruby because ruby
was very popular in Italy at the time. “Jewelry was a way to
advertise riches, and also to signal and image---their source.
Much wealth, including the raw materials used to make jewels,
poured into Europe along trade routes from the New World, the
East, and Africa.”[footnoteRef:5] Back to the Late Renaissance
period, Italy was the harbor of Europe. The jewels of the
necklace demonstrate the important role of Italy as a trade
center of Europe. “Renaissance men and women paid close
attention to jewelry both as a sign of social status and as a
signal of cultural knowledge and Worldliness.” The necklace
also reveals the identity of the lady. She probably comes from
middle class because she is dressed up but not over-dressed up--
-Her necklace does not look luxuriant. [4: 5. Phyllis G.

4. Tortora and Keith Eubank, Survey of Historic Costume] [5:
6. Vol. 25, No. 2, Renaissance Jewelry in the Alsdorf Collection
(2000), pp. 6-15+104 Between Art and Nature: Jewelry in the
Renaissance. Published by The Art Institute of Chicago. ]
The exposed white under-dress might be the chemise. Chemise,
called a camicia in Italian was one of the most representative
appeals generated from the old age. Chemise was a approach to
present the status of the wearer since quality and whiteness of
he fabric of chemise was made varied. The neckline of her
garment is low and has a round-shape. Meanwhile, by observing
in detail, you can also discover the existence of a cord with a
bunch of bow ties along the neckline. “The carious methods of
lacing and the vaying amounts of chemise exposed allowed
women to indulge their personal fancies…”[footnoteRef:6]
From the same period, many female portraits have such detail
and functional decorations. For example, the painting Portrait of
Giovanna Tornabuoni by Ghirlandaio contains detail depicts of
the puffed gathers in the sleeves ties back with cords. [6:
7&8.Elizabeth Birbar, Dress in Italian Painting]
Continuing looking downwards, the madam is wearing a green
color gown with puffed sleeves. According to the gloss that
reflects from the gown fabric, I speculate the fabric is of silk.
Silk was one of the main trade products in Italy at that time, so
do other sumptuous fabrics: “Italy was the centre of the most
important and luxurious textile manufacture of the whole of
Europe: her woolen cloth was unsurpassed for quality, and her
woven silks, unique in splendor, were exported not only all over
Europe but to the Near East as
well”[footnoteRef:7][footnoteRef:8]The sleeves are decorated
with puffs and slash which were the classic features of women-
wear during 1500-1550. “Whether with or without an over-
sleeve, the sleeves of dress which, at this particular period,
women wore underneath provided more scope for the kind of
decorative treatment that was admired.”[footnoteRef:9] The

5. slashing decoration style on garment originally comes from
Northern Europe (Germany). Since the man there love battles
and slashes make them looks competitive and provides extra
freedom for movement at the same time, “slashed effect” turned
to be a fashion trend. [7: ] [8: ] [9: 9. Phyllis G. Tortora
and Keith Eubank, Survey of Historic Costume Fourth Edition,
Fairchild Publications, Inc.]
Besides the woman in the picture, another main elements of this
painting is Lute. Music was an essential part of civic, religious,
and courtly life in the Renaissance and the lute held the highest
respect of all musical instruments during the Renaissance. “The
lute in the 16th century had a place equivalent to that of the
piano in the 19th: it was the most usual instrument for amateurs
and for accompanying song, besides appearing often in
ensembles. The vogue for it seems to have begun in Italy at the
start of the century, and spread to France, the German-speaking
lands, the Low Countries and England, as represented by
publications of lute music and treatises.”[footnoteRef:10]When
I was doing the research about Renaissance painting, I found a
great number of portraits that depicts the person holding or
playing a Lute, Titian's Venus and the Lute Player for instance.
As a music instrument, Lute embodies the beauty of music and
humanistic spirit--- Renaissance spirit. With Lute, the woman in
the painting looks more lively and relaxed. Lute also describes
characteristics of the woman in the painting as well educated
and poetical. [10: 10."Lute". 2006. In The New Penguin
Dictionary of Music. London: Penguin.
http://search.credoreference.com.ezproxy2.library.drexel.edu/co
ntent/entry/penguinmusic/lute/0
]