Last week we had the opportunity to present Refashioning the Renaissance project to YLE, Finnish broadcasting agency. We hosted the film crew at Aalto University, where Paula was interviewed for the TV news and web article, and Jane and Paula organised a mini-workshop on knitted caps. They showed how 16th century knitted caps were made, and processed to resemble velvet hats. The process includes fulling the caps by treading them in a soap water or beating them with wooden mallets, after which the nap is raised with tinsels.
Paula being interviewed.
After thew workshop Paula sat down with journalist Jonni Aromaa to chat about our project. She discussed renaissance dress, growing desire for new products and fashions, and our aims to develop new methods and experimental practices for research.
We are thrilled that YLE is interested in our project, and did – not one – but two thoughtful and well-made news stories about it. Unfortunately for international audience both the TV clip and web article are in Finnish, but at least you can all enjoy seeing Paula and Jane fulling.
In November, during my recent research trip in the state archives of Siena with our researcher Stefania, we decided to take a walk in the Sienese neighbourhood of Onda. This central contrada south from Piazza del Campo, originally called San Salvatore, used to be a popular neighbourhood among Sienese artisans in the Renaissance period. By 1531, nearly two thirds of San Salvatore’s inhabitants consisted of artisans or small local entrepreneurs, including painters, innkeepers, musicians, tailors and mercers to smiths, carpenters, masons, shoemakers, and weavers.
Street view in San Salvatore
One of the inhabitants of San Salvatore was the shoemaker Girolamo di Domenico who lived here in the first half of the sixteenth century with his children and wife Calidonia. His story invites us to think of the harsh economic conditions of many of the lower ranking artisans that we are studying in this ERC project. Tax records tell us that, in 1531, his taxable wealth was a modest 175 lire and the family’s economic circumstances did not improve in the following years. Girolamo died in 1547, leaving behind minor children. While there is no trace of what happened to the family after the shoemaker’s death, we can only hope that Girolamo’s brother Giovanni and someone named Girolamo di Bartolomeo Salvestri, described as Girolamo’s ‘relative’ (parente), both shoemakers, protected the widow and her children from falling into complete poverty.
As Stefania and I walked along the narrow, twisting streets of San Salvatore, looking at the original architectural features of the buildings that revealed where shops had originally been located, we were wondering whether clothing and fashion mattered on these streets, where many families struggled to provide just the basic living for their families.
While questions of cultural meaning and value in the absence of artisans’ own words are difficult to evaluate with precision, archival evidence, such as household inventories, allow us to access individual’s personal wardrobes and gain knowledge about ownership of clothing at most levels of society.
The shoemaker Girolamo’s inventory was drawn up a few days after his death on 14 September, 1547. The list of clothing that belonged to him and his wife included 26 dress items (pairs of hose, hats, shirts, skirts, jackets, under- and over-dresses and cloaks) that were stored in five chests. This indicates that the shoemaker Girolamo and his wife both had two or three sets of clothes.
Page from Girolamo di Domenicos inventory
Although a fair number of their garments were modest, often described as ‘sad’, ‘old’ or ‘worn out’, the shoemaker Girolamo and his wife Calidonia owned some garments that made it possible for them in special occasions to strip off their work clothes and dress up. The five chests of clothing in Girolamo’s house included relatively fine dress items, such as a white men’s doublet, a pair of black woollen breeches, a woollen cloak and a black satin beret, as well as a pair of black detachable women’s satin sleeves, a woollen cloak and two purple skirts described in the document as ‘fine’. Furthermore, some of these clothes were decorated and made from fine materials. One of the shoemaker’s wife Calidonia’s purple dress, decorated with a black velvet band and large puffs in the upper part of the sleeve, was made from pavonazzo-coloured cloth. This purple colour, obtained from valuable kermes dyestuff, was preferred also by patrician men and women, not only because it was expensive, but also because it was also a symbol of power and authority. Pavonazzo became forbidden from lower classes by sumptuary law in Siena in 1588.
Such garments were treasured objects among artisan families and may have been acquired in connection with marriage. Yet, the presence of fine garments such as Girolamo’s white doublet and black woollen cloak, or Calidonia’s satin sleeves and pavonazzo dress demonstrates that Renaissance dress and dressing up mattered at all levels of society, even among the poorer quarters of the city. Everyone wanted to look good in festive occasions and on Sundays at Church!
On 18 December 2017, Refashioning the Renaissance Principal Investigator Paula Hohti and Project Administrator Piia Lempiäinen met the Advisory Board for the first time in London. After spending the autumn setting up practices, recruiting team members, and further developing theoretical framework of the project, end of the year was an excellent opportunity to present the project to the Advisory Board and hear their feedback for the project implementation and direction. Professor Evelyn Welch kindly hosted the meeting at King’s College London, with Professor Maria Hayward, Dr Susan North, Professor Ulinka Rublack, and Dr Tessa Storey present. Advisory Board members brought new insight, raised poignant questions, and shared their knowledge throughout the meeting. This inspiring exchange of ideas and concrete advice helped to strengthen our project structure and goals.
“Our Advisory Board, individually and as a group, has an amazing expertise across areas of early modern material culture and fashion, and we feel very privileged and lucky to be able work with them for the next couple of years.”
-Paula Hohti
After a fruitful meeting the Advisory Board continued discussions on Early Modern dress and fashion over dinner. “How blissful it is to sit together enjoying excellent food, and talk about how to sew ostrich feathers together”, Evelyn Welch sighed and voiced everyone’s thoughts.
