If you could make garb to match a portrait........

[Lady Kathleen of Olmsted]

Not Renaissance, but historical nonetheless..  The Duchess of Devonshire.



The Hat she wears in this Gainsborough portrait was one of the most popular styles in the 18th Century. The Duchess was a clothes horse so to speak. Whatever she wore, she set off fashion trends for the rest of upper English Society and Nobility.

[DonaCatalina]

You can see a larger version of this painting AMBERGER, Christoph
Portrait of a Young Woman
after 1548
at the web gallery of Aart.
I really am intrigued by the beaded hair net.

http://www.wga.hu/index1.html

[Taffy Saltwater]

Want.the.Gainesborough.hat. How much false hair (weave) do you think this babe is wearing?

[midnightferret]

I can barely sew. But if I had infinite time, infinite skill, and I knew that I could pull off something that only HRH QEI could probably ever get away with, it would be The Hardwick Portrait:



I mean, sea monsters! Sea monsters, I tell you!

[Dinobabe]

I can barely sew. But if I had infinite time, infinite skill, and I knew that I could pull off something that only HRH QEI could probably ever get away with, it would be The Hardwick Portrait:



I mean, sea monsters! Sea monsters, I tell you!

The forepart is amazing!  But I often wonder if it really looked like that or did the artist take liberties (maybe even at the sitters request)?! 

[Lady Kathleen of Olmsted]

I can barely sew. But if I had infinite time, infinite skill, and I knew that I could pull off something that only HRH QEI could probably ever get away with, it would be The Hardwick Portrait:



I mean, sea monsters! Sea monsters, I tell you!

The forepart is amazing!  But I often wonder if it really looked like that or did the artist take liberties (maybe even at the sitters request)?! 

The Petticoat or Forepart for this gown, according to Janet Arnold's ELIZABETH'S WARDROBE UNLOCKED, the peticoat was said to have been embroidered on White Silk by the Countess of Shrewsbury for the 1597 portrait.

Talk about having a lot of time on one's hands!!!!

[LadyElizabeth]

You know what I find interesting, the Countess of Shrewsbury was actually the person who jailed Mary Queen of Scots.  They actually would talk and hang out together, so I've always pictured the Countess embroidering this beautiful forepart for Queen Elizabeth while sitting next to her arch-enemy (of sorts) Queen Mary of Scotland.

[midnightferret]

My thought on this is somewhat related: I have read books about how a noble lady would ostensibly be embroidering a project, but that her maids, friends, sisters, etc would help. I mean, it's true that as a woman you really didn't have a lot of stuff to do, especially if you were a noble and didn't have things like chores. (Unless you were QEI and had to run the country.) Still, I would think that you would need help to embroider a big forepart like that by hand.

So do you think Queen Mary helped? That would be even weirder!

You know what I find interesting, the Countess of Shrewsbury was actually the person who jailed Mary Queen of Scots.  They actually would talk and hang out together, so I've always pictured the Countess embroidering this beautiful forepart for Queen Elizabeth while sitting next to her arch-enemy (of sorts) Queen Mary of Scotland.

[Syrilla]

I have seen a bit of discussion and research about this forpart.   Even tho it was more common to have your gown sewn with embroidery, they did employ a painting technique or staining the fabric.  I am leaning towards that thought myself.  If you will look at the shiny spots especially near the hem, many of them cross the figures.  If they were embroidered then they would not shiny the same as the "satin" shines.  With all the other attention to all the other textural details, I would not think he would have over looked a sewn vs painted effect.  I also agree with the way of thinking that the top figures are the artist trying to make it look nice.  It has also been suggested that this could have been the fabric itself.  I personally don't think that would be the case.  The weaving of the time was very fine, but I do not think they had the skill or technology to produces such fine details in satin.  Look at tapestry, they are detailed, but not so sharply detailed.  

We know that people did use animals and other allegorical figures on gowns, so this could be a true possibility.  

Anyone have a time machine so we can check it out??        

[LadyElizabeth]

My sister read a biography on the Countess of Shrewsbury since she plays her at the faires and she's always told me she embroidered this... Of course the idea of it being painted on it quite interesting... I've never heard that suggested!!  I definitely agree that it's not a weave since that fine of detail wasn't really there.

[operafantomet]

Not really adding anything to the "embroidered VS painted" pondering... But have y'all seen this recreation by Ninya Mikhaila?

http://www.kissthefrog.co.uk/queen.html

She/her workshop went for a painted front, and it looks quite awesome.

[Kate XXXXXX]

Want.the.Gainesborough.hat. How much false hair (weave) do you think this babe is wearing?

All of it?   

[Kate XXXXXX]

Not really adding anything to the "embroidered VS painted" pondering... But have y'all seen this recreation by Ninya Mikhaila?

http://www.kissthefrog.co.uk/queen.html

She/her workshop went for a painted front, and it looks quite awesome.

I kept the National Trust magazine article about this being made a few years back.  Ninya's research did seem to point towards it having been painted.  Must look out the details...

[Syrilla]

I go to her website, just to drool....

[midnightferret]

Incidentally, it's interesting to read all the different discussions of this portrait that are available. The professor said in my 16th c art class that this portrait was painted by Nicholas Hilliard and that Elizabeth Hardwick, Countess of Shrewsbury, embroidered the forepart. But of course, this is academia, and nothing is that cut-and-dried, so you get researchers who say that the painter might NOT have been Hilliard (or his crew), and there is evidence that the forepart might have been painted instead of embroidered. I don't know if we'll ever *really* find out, but that painted recreation was truly stunning. Good stuff!