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Turquoise

Started by Lady Isabella, November 08, 2013, 05:38:45 PM

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Lady Isabella

Ok ladies and gents, I would love some new "proof" that there were turquoise fabrics and or dresses, doublets, or combinations of, during the renaissance. (think peacock colors) Mens and womens clothing. What shades of turquoise? Also, maybe what "is not" H/A.
The portraits posted in the "Pink" topic were amazing.
I am making a new dress, Elizabethan in style......I need your expert opinons and thoughts.
Thank you!

isabelladangelo

#1
How about a dress diary with a portrait of a turquoise dress and the recreation being worn?   (By my Mom)  :-)

http://isabelladangelo.blogspot.com/2013/09/moms-new-renaissance-faire-dress.html



DSC03438 par Isabella, on ipernity



Lady Isabella


isabelladangelo


DSC03366 par Isabella, on ipernity

Early 1500's - Dutch, I think. 


DSC03384 par Isabella, on ipernity

More a robin's egg blue but I think it counts. 


DSC03453 par Isabella, on ipernity 

The lining in Saint Lucy's Robe is a very vibrant teal in RL.

These are just ones at the National Gallery Of Art in Washington DC.   The problem is that many times, teal/Turquoise/aqua shows up as just a normal blue or green on the monitor or in bad photography. 


isabelladangelo

Thanks!  Mom *adored* the sleeves and got upset when it was too hot to wear them at fair.   She held out as long as she could though!   I'm happy because I finally found a style she'll wear again.

gem

That Ghirlandaio is one of my favorite Italian portraits, and your mom's gown (Isabella II) is splendid.

I know you (Isabella I) were asking specifically about garb, but I thought some information about the word might help, too! From Wikipedia:
QuoteThe substance has been known by many names, but the word turquoise, which dates to the 16th century, is derived from an Old French word for "Turkish", because the mineral was first brought to Europe from Turkey, from the mines in historical Khorasan Province of Iran.

There are some brilliant tealy blue silk threads in a book I have on Elizabethan embroidery. I'll have to pull it out and see what I can tell you about the color.

This is an extant man's smock at the V&A (?), and tho' it's hard to say whether that's "turquoise" or just blue, it's worth drooling over anyway (and just in case you were inspired to do a blackwork chemise in turquoise silk!! Yes?!):



And some modern blackwork (mine ;)) done in turquoise/teal/peacock blue:

gem

Italian, but the Elizabethan era (late 16th c.)...

Self-portrait of Alessandro Allori:


And two of his more famous portraits (I think these may actually be of the same woman):



I have seen versions of this painting (above) where the color of the dress is anywhere from bright peacock (as here) to an intense royal blue, so YMMV with this one.





Lady Isabella

Gem,
I will gladly take all the information you have!
These forums have been providing a wealth of information for me for years.
I may not post much, but I am always stalking the Faire Garb pages.
Your blackwork is just amazing. 

operafantomet

Quote from: gem on November 08, 2013, 07:01:32 PM
Italian, but the Elizabethan era (late 16th c.)...

(...)

And two of his more famous portraits (I think these may actually be of the same woman):

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2569/4153203481_58f795e0d1.jpg

I have seen versions of this painting (above) where the color of the dress is anywhere from bright peacock (as here) to an intense royal blue, so YMMV with this one.

http://www.terminartors.com/files/artworks/1/4/1/14105/Allori_Alessandro-Portrait_of_Eleonora_Dinora_da_Toledo.normal.jpg

It's not the same girl, just mislabeled so. They're both Florentine noble women of the 16th century, but the first portrait is from ca. 1558, the second from 1580-90. The first is a Medici princess, but the jury is still out of whether it's Maria de' Medici, her sister Isabella de' Medici or their cousin Dianora di Toledo. The second has not been identified, but the doublet she wears is a later style than the first portrait. Note the pipe organ/instrument behind her. She was probably a lady of considerable musical talent.

As always, it can be hard to talk about colours in a historical context. They named their colours after what pigment was used, not how the finished result looked. Turquoise stones were crushed and blended with old etc. to create splendid blue and green shades for painting. But I don't think they did that for dyeing clothes. Which is why their green/blue/turquoise shades probably went by other names. Those claiming turquoise wasn't used in clothes is partly right - the pigment wasn't used for fabrics. but the SHADE did indeed exist, as shows above. Here's some more examples (though I'm sure one could discuss whether some borderline sky blue and teal):


Another Medici member; Christina di Lorena, painted by Pulzone. Her dress echoes that of the Medici princess above.


A posthumous portrait of the aforementioned Dianora di Toledo, painted in the 1580s. Dianora was killed in 1576 by her jealous husband. Turquoise and silver was the heraldic colours of the Toledo family, which is why it's thought the Allori portrait is also of Dianora.


Portrait of a female, by Veronese.


Scene from an Italian villa, 1620s, by the Dutch painter Vranx.


Closeup of a painting hanging in the Palazzo Borghese in Rome. I do alas not have more info on it.

gem

#9
Thanks, Anea! I was going round and round, trying to figure out who the sitters were. It seemed conceivable that the second portrait was a later image of the first girl (she looks older), but I couldn't find reliable information on who they depicted.

And you've posted that gorgeous gold-and-teal Vranx fresco before, but I always forget about it! I have about six yards of beautiful blue-green cotton velvet that has been dithering between a short jacket like the one in this portrait of Mary Ward, and a longer English fitted gown. I think a second look at the Vranx has convinced me that longer is the way to go here. :)


(To my eye, Mary's jacket just looks blue, but Isabella--feel free to interpret it however you like!)