2.
Brides at Their Wedding and 3. Brides Outside the House after
They Are Married
Presented here with the
knowledge and full permission of the authors and publisher.
Forthcoming in Cesare
Vecellio's "Clothing, Ancient and Modern, of Various
Parts of the World", translated by Ann Rosalind Jones
and Margaret F.
Rosenthal, forthcoming from Thames and Hudson, London, in
Autumn 2008. Copyright
Ann Rosalind Jones and Margaret F. Rosenthal
Reproduction prohibited without
permission of the authors and the publisher.
2.
Brides at Their Wedding and 3. Brides Outside the House
after They Are Married
Once their weddings have been
announced and the parentado (as we call a certain
wedding ceremony in Venice) has taken place, they
usually dance at balls throughout several days and
appear in public and receive all their relatives
festively. And for this purpose they have dancing
masters, whom they employ during these days, and they
are elderly men. During the parentado, which
includes both men and women, though they are usually
kept separate, these dancing masters lead the brides out
of their rooms into the portego [a long hall
running down the center of the house, on the main floor]
in the presence of their relatives and friends, who are
seated there, and they teach them how to bow to everyone
and so, to the sound of various instruments, they
perform certain dances and then return to their rooms,
where there are many women who dress them up, often
changing their ensembles, and send them out beautifully
attired and so well adorned that when these ornaments
are added to their innate beauty, with which Mother
Nature has usually been very generous to them, they look
like brilliant suns.
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For
the wedding itself, they go to church with a large group
of men and women, the relatives not only of the groom
but also of the bride, preceded by musicians, with
torches carried by servants, which are lit as mass is
said. They attend this in great splendor, outfitted with
carpets and cushions on which the lean and kneel. Once
mass is said and the blessing of the priest has been
received, they return home and then they are led to the
house of their husband, where the festivities start
again. For almost a year they continue to wear their
hair down on their shoulders, with golden trim and an
ornament on their head, such as a
circlet studded with jewels of great value, some showing
in a natural style and others by exquisite, careful art
all their golden-colored hair, with curls in the style
of the day and with so many valuable jewels and pendants
at their ears and strands of pearls at their necks,
instead of necklaces, that they are a marvel to behold.
During this time most of them dress in white satin or
some other silk, according to the season, which
announces their fidelity and chastity. In the past they
wore simple white, without any decoration, their hair
embellished with curls on their forehead, and baveri
and bracciali
[veils for the shoulders and breast, and shoulder rolls
covering the pins or ties that attached the sleeves to
the bodice] trimmed with ruffles, and at their wrists,
too, as you can see here. But starting six years ago,
they’ve changed all these things completely, with the
addition of a new hairstyle: they wear two horn-like
points artfully made of their hair, attempting to
imitate the goddess of chastity.
Their garments are white but with beautiful designs
woven into them, and their baveri have high lace
collars, beautifully constructed of standing openwork
lace, as are their bracciali; and in a lovely
style, they pad their bodices, elongated well below the
waist, and wear the usual ornaments, of greater rather
than later value, as can be seen illustrated in the
ensemble here. And when they go out, they are
accompanied by many older married women of their clan
and by a great number of servants. And they wear a long
train.
© Ann
Rosalind Jones and Margaret F Rosenthal.
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On to 4: Brides at Ascension Time, or the
Sensa,
in Venice
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