THE RENAISSANCE
_Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries_
The marked departure is necks cut square, if low, and elaborate jewelled
chains draped from shoulders, outlining neck of gown and describing a
festoon on front of waist, which is soon to become independent of skirt
to develop on its own account.
As in the fifteenth century, when necks were cut low off the shoulders,
they were on occasions filled in with tuckers.
The skirt now registers a new characteristic; it parts at the waist line
over a petticoat, and the opening is decorated by the ornamental, heavy
chain which hangs from girdle to hem of gown.
One sees the hair still worn coiled low in the neck, concealing the ears
and held in a snood or in Italy cut "Florentine" fashion with fringe on
brow.
Observe how the wealth of the Roman Empire, through its new trade
channels opening up with the East (the result of the crusades) led to
the importation of rich and many-coloured Oriental stuffs; the same
wealth ultimately established looms in Italy for making silks and
velvets, to decorate man and his home. There was no longer simplicity in
line and colour scheme; gorgeous apparel fills the frames of the
Renaissance and makes amusing reading for those who consult old
documents. The clothes of man, like his over-ornate furniture, show a
debauched and vulgar taste. Instead of the lines which follow one
another, solid colours, and trimmings kept to hem of neck and sleeve and
skirt, great designs, in satins and velvet brocades, distort the lines
and proportions of man and woman.
The good Gothic lines lived on in the costumes of priests and nuns.
Jewelry ceased to be decoration with meaning; lace and fringe, tassels
and embroidery, with colour combinations to rival the African parrots,
disfigured man and woman alike.
During November of 1916, New York was so fortunate as to see, at the
American Art Galleries, the great collection of late Gothic and early
Renaissance furniture and other art treasures, brought together in the
restored Davanzati Palace of Florence, Italy. The collection was sold at
auction, and is now scattered. Of course those who saw it in its natural
setting in Florence, were most fortunate of all. But with some knowledge
and imagination, at the sight of those wonderful things,--hand-made all
of them,--the most casual among those who crowded the galleries for
days, must have gleaned a vivid impression of how woman of the Early
Renaissance lived,--in her kitchen, dining-room, bedroom and
reception-rooms. They displayed her cooking utensils, her chairs and
tables, her silver, glass and earthenware, her bed, linen, satin damask,
lace and drawn work; the cushions she rested against; portraits in their
gorgeous Florentine frames, showing us how those early Italians dressed;
the colored terra-cottas, unspeakably beautiful presentments of the
Virgin and Child, moulded and painted by great artists under that same
exaltation of Faith which brought into being the sister arts of the
time, imbuing them with something truly divine. There is no disputing
that quality which radiates from the face of both the Mother and the
Child. One all but kneels before it. Their expression is not of this
world.
PLATE XXIII
Mrs. Vernon Castle who set to-day's fashion in outline of
costume and short hair for the young woman of America. For
this reason and because Mrs. Castle has form to a
superlative degree (correct carriage of the body) and the
clothes sense (knowledge of what she can wear and how to
wear it) we have selected her to illustrate several types of
costumes, characteristic of 1916 and 1917.
Another reason for asking Mrs. Castle to illustrate our text
is, that what Mrs. Castle's professional dancing has done to
develop and perfect her natural instinct for line, the
normal exercise of going about one's tasks and diversions
can do for any young woman, provided she keep in mind
correct carriage of body when in action or repose. Here we
see Mrs. Castle in ball costume.
[Illustration: _Mrs. Vernon Castle in Ball Costume_]
That is woman as the Mother of God in art Woman as the mother of man,
who looked on these inspired works of art, lived for the most part in
small houses built of wood with thatched roofs, unpaved streets, dirty
interiors, which were cleaned but once a week--on Saturdays! The men of
the aristocracy hunted and engaged in commerce, and the general rank and
file gave themselves over to the gaining of money to increase their
power. It sounds not unlike New York to-day.
Gradually the cities grew large and rich. People changed from simple
sober living to elaborate and less temperate ways, and the great
families, with their proportionately increased wealth gained through
trade, built beautiful palaces and built them well. The gorgeous
colouring of the frescoed walls shows Byzantine influence. In _The Art
of Interior Decoration_ we have described at length the house furnishing
of that time. Against this background moved woman, man's mate; note her
colour scheme and then her rôle. (We quote from Jahn Rusconi in _Les
Arts_, Paris, August, 1911.)
"Donna Francesca dei Albizzi's cloak of black cloth ornamented on a
yellow background with birds, parrots, butterflies, pink and red roses,
and a few other red and green figures; dragons, letters and trees in
yellow and black, and again other figures made of white cloth with red
and black stripes."
Extravagance ran high not only in dress, but in everything, laws were
made to regulate the amount spent on all forms of entertainment, even on
funerals, and the cook who was to prepare a wedding feast had to submit
his menu for approval to the city authorities. More than this, only two
hundred guests could be asked to a wedding, and the number of presents
which the bride was allowed to receive was limited by law. But wealth
and fashion ran away with laws; the same old story.
As the tide of the Renaissance rose and swept over Europe (the awakening
began in Italy), the woman of the gorgeous cloak and her
contemporaries, according to the vivid description of the last quoted
author, were "subject to their husbands' tyranny, not even knowing how
to read in many cases, occupied with their household duties, in which
they were assisted by rough and uncouth slaves, with no other mission in
life than to give birth to a numerous posterity.... This life ruined
them, and their beauty quickly faded away; no wonder, then, that they
summoned art to the aid of nature. The custom was so common and the art
so perfect that even a painter like Taddeo Gaddi acknowledged that the
Florentine women were the best painters in the world!... Considering the
mental status of the women, it is easy to imagine to what excesses they
were given in the matter of dress." The above assertions relate to the
average woman, not the great exceptions.
The marriage coffers of woman of the Renaissance in themselves give an
idea of her luxurious tastes. They were about six feet long, three feet
high, and two and a half feet deep. Some had domed covers opening on
hinges--the whole was carved, gilded and painted, the background of
reds and blues throwing the gold into relief. Scenes taken from
mythology were done in what was known as "pastille," composition work
raised and painted on a gold background. On one fifteenth century
marriage coffer, Bacchus and Ariadne were shown in their triumphal car
drawn by winged griffins, a young Bacchante driving them on. Another
coffer decorated in the same manner had as decoration "The Rape of
Proserpine."
Women rocked their infants in sumptuous carved and emblazoned walnut
cradles, and crimson satin damask covered their beds and cushions. This
blaze of gold and silver, crimson and blue we find as the wake of
Byzantine trade, via Constantinople, Venice, Rome, Florence on to
France, Spain, Germany, Holland, Flanders and England. Carved wood,
crimson, green and blue velvets, satin damask, tapestries, gold and
silver fringe and lace. Against all this moved woman, costumed
sumptuously.
Gradually the line of woman's (and man's) neck is lost in a ruff, her
sweeping locks, instead of parted on her brow, entwined with pearls or
other gems to frame her face and make long lines down the length of her
robe, are huddled under grotesque head-dresses, monstrous creations,
rising and spreading until they become caricatures, defying art.
In some sixteenth century Italian portraits we see the ruff flaring from
a neck cut out square and low in front, then rising behind to form a
head covering.
The last half of the sixteenth century is marked by gowns cut high in
the neck with a close collar, and the appearance of a small ruff
encircling the throat. This ruff almost at once increased to absurd
dimensions.
The tightly laced long-pointed bodice now appears, with and without
padded hips. (The superlative degree of this type is to be seen in
portraits by Velasquez (see Plate IX).)
Long pointed toes to the shoes give way to broad, square ones.
Another sixteenth century departure is the absurdly small hat, placed as
if by the wind, at a careless angle on the hair, which is curled and
piled high.
Also we see hats of normal size with many plumes, on both men and women.
Notice the sleeves: some are still flowing, with tight undersleeves,
others slashed to show full white sleeve beneath. But most important of
all is that the general license, moral and artistic, lays its ruthless
hand on woman's beautiful, sweeping shoulder line and distorts it. Anne
of Cleves, or the progressive artist who painted her, shows in a
portrait the Queen's flowing sleeves with mediæval lines, clasped by a
broad band between elbow and shoulder, and then _pushed up_ until the
sleeve forms an ugly puff. A monstrous fashion, this, and one soon to
appear in a thousand mad forms. Its first vicious departure is that
small puffy, senselessly insinuated line between arm-hole and top of
sleeve in garments for men as well as women.
Skirts button from point of basque to feet just before we see them, in
the seventeenth century, parting down the front and separating to show a
petticoat. In Queen Elizabeth's time the acme of this style was reached
by Spanish women as we see in Velasquez's portraits. Gradually the
overskirt is looped back, (at first only a few inches), and tied with
narrow ribbons.
PLATE XXIV
Mrs. Vernon Castle in Winter afternoon costume, one which
is so suited to her type and at the same time conservative
as to outline and detail, that it would have charm whether
in style or not.
[Illustration: _Victor Georg--Chicago_
_Mrs. Vernon Castle in Afternoon Costume--Winter_]
The second quarter of the seventeenth century shows the waist line drawn
in and bodice with skirts a few inches in depth. These skirts are the
hall-mark of a basque.
Very short, full coats flaring from under arms now appear.
After the skirt has been pushed back and held with ribbons, we find
gradually all fulness of upper skirt pushed to hips to form paniers, and
across the back to form a bustle effect, until we have the Marie
Antoinette type, late eighteenth century. Far more graceful and
_séduisant_ than the costume of Queen Elizabeth's time.
The figures presented by Marie Antoinette and her court, powdered wigs
and patches, paniers and enormous hats, surmounting the horsehair
erections, heavy with powder and grease, lace, ribbon flowers and
jewels, are quaint, delightful and diverting, but not to be compared
with the Greek or mediæval lines in woman's costume.
Extremely extended skirts gave way to an interlude of full skirts, but
flowing lines in the eighteenth century English portraits.
The Directoire reaction towards simplicity was influenced by English
fashion.
Empire formality under classic influence came next. Then Victorian hoops
which were succeeded by the Victorian bustles, pantalets, black velvet
at throat and wrists, and lockets.