On Thu, 16 Feb 2006, Susan Farmer wrote: > Hey Robin!
Thanks for thinking of me! > A fresco on the wall of the hexagonal baptistery of San Giovanni > Battista (said to be originally ninth-cent., with fifteenth- and > sixteenth-century frescoes) showing the marriage of St. Catherine of > Sienna. > > http://www.microlanitalia.com/exe/turismoimg.htm?t=4&k1=6&k2=1 ======= > > It's Italian, but dig those tippets! I'm still reeling from the off-the-shoulder neckline ... The tippets are definitely fun. The Italians did some really bizarre things in art at this time. Note that if this is really Catherine of Siena, the costume is deliberately archaic; Catherine of Siena died in 1380 and was not canonized till 1461. Howver, the "Mystic Marriage" scene shows up in art at least as early as 1340, in depictions of St. Catherine of Alexandria, well-established as a "bride of Christ." I've heard that this attribution of the Mystic Marriage scene was a confusion with Catherine of Siena, but the earlier dates of the art seem to contradict that statement. In fact, every piece of art I know with the "Mystic Marriage" scene is presumed to show Catherine of Alexandria. So I don't know why some references insist that it's "supposed" to be Catherine of Siena. The lady here has a crown, which is one of CofA's attributes, but there's no sword or wheel, so it remains uncertain. However, it looks a lot more like CofA than CofS. CofS is typically shown with a lily, sometimes a heart and/or a book, and/or a crown of thorns, none of which are here. More important, CofS is usually shown in Dominican habit, and CofA in fashionable royal dress, and this is a lot closer to the latter. Anyway, if it's a deliberate archaism, the costume is modeled after earlier artworks (and probably significantly changed in details). However, I wouldn't be surprised if this is 14th c., and St. Catherine of Alexandria, re-attributed to Catherine of Siena. Which means it's just saint's costume and Italian, and could be anywhere on the continuum of real <--> fanciful! I notice the stripes on the red tippets, which could be meant to indicate fur piecing... or could just be stripes, which I've never seen on tippets, but hey, it's Italian. The little bit of flip side we see on the left tippet shows an intriguing combination of white and red, which might mean that these are not separate-material "band-and-streamer" tippets, but sleeve extensions (pendant sleeves) from the white dress, with a red-striped or fur lining. The wide over-the-hand cuffs are quite intriguing, and might be a clue that we're dealing with a late-15th or 16th c. version of archaic dress, with mix-and-match features. But I would have to see other local images of dress to know whether this is a regionalism. I know very very little about Italian variants. They make my head ache. --Robin _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
