FEATURES ARCHIVE

Stefania Pandakovic, Junior Specialist in the London Books & Manuscripts department, looks at a manual of 16th-century fashion from the sale of Fine Printed Books & Manuscripts at South Kensington on 13 June 2011.

Much as Paris is today’s fashion capital of the world, trend-setters in late 16th century Europe took their lead from Venice, where the most influential style critic was Cesare Vecellio, a cousin of the painter Titian.

Vecellio made his mark with his 1590 publication De gli habiti antichi, et moderni di diverse parti del mondo (‘Of ancient and modern dress in different parts of the world’), and the success of that work was sufficient for him to follow it up the next year with an exquisite volume devoted to the lacework for which Venice is still celebrated today: Corona delle nobili et virtuose donne (‘The crown of noble and virtuous ladies’). Vecellio invested considerable resources in the volume, publishing it at his own expense, and indeed at his own house (‘in Frezzaria nelle Case de i Preti’).

The attractive copy which features in our sale is the second edition, its four parts contained in one volume, illustrated with 108 woodcuts; the title page illustrated here includes a glimpse of two elegant young Venetians, one of whom (on the right) is herself engaged in consulting a pattern book.