While browsing through online paintings by the artist Giovanni Battista Moroni, I stumbled across this portrait of a Bergamesque noblewoman from the late 1560's... and it was love at first sight! My goal for this dress diary is to chronicle my activities as I attempt to make a faithful reproduction of this outfit, down to the very last detail if possible.

11/24/02
First, a little history:

Giovanni Battista Moroni was an Italian artist who has often been overlooked by art historians in the past who considered him to be mearly a portrait painter, and therefore of less genius than other Italian artists. He was born in Albino around 1524 and apprenticed to Moretto, the leading painter of Brescia during this period. When he finished his training in 1543, Moroni began working in and around Bergamo, a significant outpost on the western border of the Venetian Republic; an area where sympathies of the nobility leaned toward Spanish-ruled Milan, which is only 35 miles away. Although he enjoyed a good deal of success in Bergamo, he eventually moved back to his smaller hometown of Albino in the early 1560's, which is less than 8 miles to the northeast in the foothills of the Alps. However, he continued to receive a flurry of commissions from Bergamo and the surrounding areas throughout the remains of his career. He resided in this provencal Lombard region throughout his entire life, and it is not know if he ever traveled to Venice or north of the Alps.

Because of this relative isolation, it is fairly easy to determine the origin of his patrons as well. The men and women featured in Moroni's portraits were mostly aristocrats living in Brescia or Bergamo, or successful merchant-class citizens from Albino and the surrounding areas. The Agliardi family was one of the leading noble families of Bergamo, and they became important patrons for Moroni by commissioning a number of portraits of their family members. However, the details about Angelica Agliardi de Nicolinis are still a bit of a mystery at this point in my research. I have not been able to dig up any information about her life, but her family name leads me to believe that she was a wealthy native of Bergamo, and I am assuming that the clothing shown in this portrait would be connected to this area as well.

11/25/02
An overview of the fashion:

The woman in Moroni's painting is wearing a style of dress that can be found across several regions of Italy, and similar styles also appear in foreign wardrobes as well (Elizabeth I was said to be fond of these Italian gowns with "double bodies"). It is always a bit difficult to find English-language research on 16th century Italian fashions, but I can at least piece together some conclusions based on pictorial evidence and a few bits and pieces found in various books.

Portrait of Pace Rivola Spini Moroni, 1570

Starting from the bottom layer of garments and moving outward, the sitter is probably wearing a simple camicia with either a high collar or a separate partlet. The neck and wrist ruffs are quite narrow at this early date and were probably still attached to the body of the shirt or partlet. (larger ruffs found later in the century became separate articles to make it easier to set the frill when laundering.) Based on the surviving 1562 Florentine gown worn by Eleanora of Toledo, we can guess that Angelica might have been wearing some sort of pair-of-bodies beneath her gown as bust support and to smooth out the shape of her torso. This lower bodice may have had some type of boning or stiffening sewn into it, but there is just no way to be sure. It is difficult to even tell what sort of shape is visible at her bust due to the deep black coloring of her gown, but other similar Italian styles, like this example painted around 1580 by Scipione Pulzone, show a surprising amount of curve at the breast instead of a more cone-shaped silhouette. Italian women did not commonly wear farthingales during this period, so the shape of the skirts were much more rounded and soft. Fullness was probably achieved with corded or layered petticoats, and the full-length portrait to the left of a minor noblewoman from Albino shows what Angelica Agliardi's silhouette probably looked like when standing.

Portrait of a Gentlewoman Scipione Pulzone, 1580

The next layer was made up of a doublet, or giuppone, with matching tight sleeves and a contrasting skirt. The doublet is made of pinked crimson satin with stripes that appear to be created with trapunto quilting - an Italian style of quilting dating back to the 14th century where the channels are raised with stuffing or cords. Striped doublets originated as a popular male fashion, but more and more Italian women began to appear in these masculine garments as the century progressed - which must have been a bit of a shock when you compare this to the ultra-feminine brocade and embroidered low-necked gowns common in the preceeding decades. In 1583, Stubbes complained about English women who also adopted these fashions by writing: "The Women also there have dublets & Jerkins, as men have heer, buttoned up the brest, and made with wings, welts, and pinions on the shoulder points, as mans apparel is for all the world, and though this be a kinde of attire appropriate onely to man, yet they blush not to wear it..." We can be sure that Italians probably had a similar response when these trends began a few decades earlier.

Portrait of a Gentleman with Two Children (detail) Moroni, 1570

Women in Moroni's portraits also seem to be adopting another male convention by lacing their skirts to the bottom edge of the doublet with points. I first noticed this in another Moroni work showing two children wearing a doublet and skirt without an overgown. There are small bows at the waistline, and this implies that the skirt was being held up in a manner that was similar to the way men laced their breeches or trunkhose to a doublet. I thought this was very interesting, but I still wasn't sure if this was just a quirk of children's dress, or something that continued into adulthood. I still don't have enough evidence to settle this question for sure, but I did find a second possible example of these skirt points in another Moroni portrait. If you look closely at a the bottom of the doublet worn by Pace Rivola Spini, you can see a small bow at her waistline as well. (the bow is the small white spot in the color picture, and you can make it out slightly better in this black and white detail image) If these really are lacing points, it would mean that the skirt was a separate garment and not attached to a bodice, as was the norm earlier in the century. This mix-and-match bodice and skirt style was probably quite innovative at the time; it is much more common to see the under-bodice and skirt made of matching fabric, which would suggest that they were attached at the waistline.

Portrait of the Countess Bentivoglio Ludovico Carracci, 1597-99

The overgown is made of somber black velvet, and its color and simple cut is evocative of the floor-length black robes favored by academics, professionals, and secular clergy in Lombardy. Black became the color of choice of both men and women of this region in the second half of the century due to influences from Spain, Venice, and the new emphasis on sobriety due to the counter-reformation. But even though the overgown is quite plain, it still provides ample ways to show off material wealth. The effect of the rich, jewel-like fabrics from the lower layers is actually heightened in contrast with the deep black velvet, and the expensive sable or marten fur lining was a luxurious way to stay warm while also flaunting one's noble status. The gown buttons all the way from neck to floor with thread covered buttons and loops, although her extremely high collar would probably prevent it from ever being worn completely closed. During the 1560's and 70's, these overgowns still has a fitted torso and a seam joining bodice to skirt, and in the portraits, they seem to always have a few buttons holding the gown closed somewhere on the torso. Later Italian portraits (like the 1590's example by Ludovico Carracci on the right) show that the overgown eventually evolved into a looser surcoat that was typically worn open, although the lower doublet and skirt remained much the same. The sole adornment of Angelica Agliardi's overgown comes from the triple row of fur-lined panes at the shoulder. These, yet again, work to create a more masculine appearance by broadening the shoulders and creating a more imposing silhouette. In many ways, this outfit is like the 16th century version of the "power-suit" worn by women in the 1980's, and it is interesting to think that this costume may have acted as a means for female empowerment. Women in this part of Italy enjoyed more prominence in their society when compared to other cities like Venice, and a surprising number of upper-class women in the portraits from this region were highly educated poets, writers, or artists. Perhaps this masculization of female dress was in some ways a result of their unusual freedom and symbolic of their desire to become more equal with men.

Portrait of a Noblewoman Lavinia Fontanai, 1580

Finally, the accessories are fairly simple and understated in the portrait of Angelica Agliardi, but they add a few additional clues about the sitter's status. A fur stole is attached to a belt at her waist, and as typical, she holds it in her hand as a type of prop. These stoles are sometimes mistakenly called "flea-furs" by modern historians, but at the time, they were simply referred to as zibellino, which mens "sable". In addition to providing a little extra warmth, they probably had a symbolic value - perhaps even a symbol of marriage. Many of these furs have heads and feet made out of gold and jewels, but Angelica's is unadorned, which might suggest that she was from lesser nobility and might not be able to afford such a costly version of this accessory. Her jewelry is also relatively modest when compared to other noble portraits (like the much more flamboyant Bolognese noblewoman on the left), and she wears only a single ring, a gold hanging girdle, and a jeweled necklace. However, the pendant on the necklace has a lovely three tiered design with large gems and a pearl which might have been part of her dowery. Lastly, she wears an extremely fine veil over her hair, which is probably braided and tied up with ribbon at the back of her head. Veils like this one are not very common on women from this period and location, but similar styles can be found in Vecellio's Italian costume illustrations from the 1580's. Most of the others Lombard women in these portraits wear nothing on their heads other than decorative ribbons and often a jeweled band in front of the braids.

• Research
• Laying the groundwork
• Layer 2: doublet and petticoat
• Layer 3: gown and accessories