fashioning Isabella d’Este
“ … the source and origin of all the loveliest fashions in Italy.”
- Bona Sforza on Isabella d’Este
Isabella d’Este (1474-1539), Marchioness of Mantua, is widely regarded for her patronage of the arts in all their manifestations, and her diligent and savvy statesmanship on behalf of her husband, Francesco II Gonzaga (1466-1519). She is also known for her incessant quest for new and beautiful clothing and its accoutrements – a style setter for the courts of Italy and of Europe. Her clothing was not merely an incidental interest, expressive of vanity and wealth, but was integral to her increasingly sure-footed sense of how a ruler should be perceived, and the value of the visual in the creation and maintenance of power.
This digital humanities project seeks to tease out the what, the how, and the why of the clothing, textiles, and accoutrements in the courts of northern Italy and beyond by focusing in particular on this sartorial aspect of Isabella’s visual self-representations.
The organizational focus of the project is one of the most well-known images of Isabella, her portrait by Titian, located in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (completed 1534-6). Viewers are invited to start their interaction with Isabella and her clothing by homing in on this portrait in all its glorious detail. Then follow a series of explanatory essays by academics and curators working in Renaissance studies from around the globe. These are divided into three themes: Fashioning Isabella; Portraying Isabella; and Contextualising Isabella.
The essays in Fashioning Isabella unpack and undress each aspect of the clothing seen in Titian’s portrait – her fur, her gloves, her distinctive headdress, her sleeves, the dyes and textiles employed in her garments – as well as what we don’t see, namely her undergarments, her shoes, her gloves and her scents. The essays in Portraying Isabella explore aspects of the clothing and portraiture – both painterly and literary. Finally in Contextualising Isabella, essays explore other aspects of clothing, textiles and trade at the courts of northern Italy from sourcing clothing, to trend setting, the use of tapestries, and the burgeoning use of fashion dolls as a means of diplomacy.
The project is sponsored by the Australasian Centre for Italian Studies, in collaboration with the Isabella D’Este Archive project, with additional sponsorship from a University of Melbourne, Faculty of Arts Digital Internship.
project Steering committee
Catherine Kovesi (University of Melbourne), convenor
Jennifer McFarland (University of Cambridge), coordinator and content editor
Deanna Shemek (University of California at Irvine)
John Gagné (University of Sydney)
Carolyn James (Monash University)
Anne Dunlop (University of Melbourne)
Timothy McCall (Villanova University)
Carl Villis (National Gallery of Victoria)
Digital Design Team
Mitch Buzza (University of Melbourne)
Chloe Ho (University of Melbourne)
Amanda Belton (University of Melbourne)
This project is in constant evolution, and further essays on aspects of textiles, clothing, and style in the courts of northern Italy at the time of Isabella will be included over time.
If you are interested in contributing to the project, please contact either Catherine Kovesi or Jennifer McFarland.