Sleeve Eye Candy thread

[DonaCatalina]

She may have had several nearly identical partlets. But they look the same to me.
And I do believe the sleeve poofs are not the actual sleeves.
Margaret de Valois poofs in sleeves

Isabel de Valois poofs on sleeves -Same partlet?

Marguerite de Valois- I can't tell what all is going on with the sleeves

Also labeled Marguerite de Valois- but I have my doubts

Isabel de Valois- damaged portrait- I wish more of the lower sleeves had survived.

Catherine de Medici circa 1550

[Rowan MacD]

Margaret de Valois- Love the ruff on the partlet-I'm going to try that  in organza; I like the way the necklace shows through.  I wonder if the slashes in the sleeves are edged to prevent fraying...Is that grey silk peeking through?

   Marguerite de Valois- The two portraits resemble each other enough that the one of her in black, looks like an older, much more formal version of her.  I'm going to say the paint must have darkened on her face-she looks almost swarthy.
   The poufs on the sleeves appear sewn on over the gorgeous material. 
  The younger one looks like it was painted in the style of a miniature. The exaggerated size of the jewels, the exposed cleavage and that heart necklace combined with the girly-girl bows makes it look like it was meant to be a private portrait.   I would love to see what the sleeves look like under all that embellishment.



     

[isabelladangelo]

Rowen, a couple of the ones that Dona posted are modern recreations.   You can see more about it here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thelostgallery/5422901510/#in/photostream/

The guy takes actual portraits and recolors them, adds gems, ect.   He also creates some of the portraits so if it looks like modern techniques, it probably is a modern portrait. 

[Rowan MacD]

  Thanks- I thought the' teenybopper portrait' looked a bit over the top.   I have seen similar real portraits, but they were all small miniatures.  The quality of the painting is not the best.   I will admit to a What in Hades? moment when I saw that necklace.

[Rani Zemirah]

I wonder if it's not some sort of jeweled netting laid over a fabric partlet, that could be used with many different partlets/chemises, or even as a separate partlet, itself, as seen in one of the portraits?  Almost a piece of jewelry...

[Rowan MacD]

  I was wondering that myself.  I am toying with the idea of making a sort of beaded 'net' to overlay a shear partlet. 
    That way the partlet could be washed separately, and the beads won't be disturbed.
    Something like a collarless yoke.   Has anybody tried to make one?

[isabelladangelo]

I doubt they were making the gems separate from the partlets for a couple of reasons.  One, take a look at the lady four down on this page:

http://realmofvenus.renaissanceitaly.net/wardrobe/artgallery3.htm

The partlet is a triangular one - common in Italy- and appears to be fully beaded.  There isn't any poofing between the beads like we've seen on this thread and others.  Rather, it's a flat surface. 

http://uploads0.wikipaintings.org/images/agnolo-bronzino/eleonora-da-toledo-1543.jpg

Eleanor De Toledo wears another beaded partlet.  Where you can tell the ribbons and pearls are actually sewn on is at the collar where it's turned back.  If it were just an overlay, the collar wouldn't be able to do that for one thing, and, for another, you wouldn't see the gold and blue stitching through the collar. 

[Rani Zemirah]

My eyes are not as trained as yours are, when it comes to looking at portraits... but to me it looks like there is no fabric under the first partlet.  It just looks like a triangular piece of beaded net that comes down to her waist.  I suppose there could be an extremely sheer piece of fabric underneath it, but I can't tell.  The first portrait I was referring to (http://www.oel-bild.de/Bilder/Portrait-der-Eleonora-da-Toledo-und-ihrem-Sohn-Giovanni.jpg) seemed to have that same type of netting without anything under it (although it ended at the top of the bodice, or was tucked in)... and I was just speculating as to whether it might sometimes be laid over the top of another partlet, a cloth one, almost like an accessory. 

[Rowan MacD]

  That's what it looks like to me, also; I can't see any fabric under that, particularly where it hangs over the bodice; however, the artist may have decided it looked better that way and rendered the underlying net material 'invisible'.
   The beaded material definitely hangs straight down over the neckline of the bodice- there is no visible break in the pattern or drape all the way to the waist.
   When you look a the practical aspects of this piece; the top of the partlet beading has to be attached to some material that we can't see, as a stiffener of some kind;  I don't see how the beads could keep their positions otherwise.
   It looks very much like the portrait is focused around that piece, it must be very valuable. 
  Isabella-Do you have more examples of this style?

In the Isabella of Toledo portrait-Her skin may just be painted too pale to make out the netting under the beads.  I have played around with pearls and wire (with some interesting, if useless, results ) but    cannot produce anything that will hold a regular shape and spacing by itself without some sort of underlying mesh to anchor it.

[gem]

Sounds like we need a Partlet Eye Candy thread!! I will start one later this afternoon, unless somebody beats me to it. 

[Rowan MacD]

  Please do!  I'll let you start it...lots of pics please!

[Francesca DC]

My friend Russ Turner--A most wonderful man and fantastic photographer shot this photo of the Courtesans from Venice aka Carnevale Della Muse as they played a most spirited game of Liar's Dice.

From left to right we have Cici, Francesca, and Bianca.

Look CLOSELY at Francesca's sleeves....

[DonaCatalina]

Frederico, Prince of Urbino at the age of eighteen months. Fancy sleeves for a small child.

[Rowan MacD]

Also labeled Marguerite de Valois- but I have my doubts
[img]http://farm5.staticflickr.com

The heart necklace magically changed to a filigree disc!  LOL.

[isabelladangelo]

Here's the completely modern heart one:


marguerite de valois reine de france ii by the lost gallery, on Flickr


I'm pretty sure the painting itself is modern.  It's very common for some artists to try to recreate the methods and paints of the old masters while creating new artwork.