November 22, 2004: Well, it's been over a year, and still nothing is webbed, but that's because I've gone and changed my mind, haven't I? I will be webbing all the words relating to costume, costume accessories, and textiles, not just webbing them a bit at a time. I'm currently up to page 353 of the dictionary - the second half of the S section. Shouldn't be too much longer now, hopefully I'll have it all webbed by the end of the year.

December 12, 2004: The Glossary of Sixteenth Century Italian Words Relating to Costume is finished. It's 1,475 entries long, and has spawned two smaller, more specific, glossaries - one for colour names and one for textile names.

Completed: Venetian Hair, Cosmetics and Accessories
(revised October 10, 2003)



Well, as some of you know, because of bandwidth problems and due to the remarkable generosity of Madeleine in providing the new webspace, I have been busy moving the website to a new home. This has meant that I have spent less time researching, especially for Venus Adorned, the new section of the site that will explore Venetian hair, cosmetics and other accessories. I shall do my best to get that online as soon as possible.

What I wanted to do was to provide an overview article on Venetian accessories, but in looking at the sheer scope of that article I decided it would be best to just write the individual articles instead. I have completed the article entitled "A Crowning Glory: Hairstyles and Headwear". More to follow.

Completed: Sixteenth Century Costume Manuscripts

A while ago I sat researching on the web and idly contemplating reading Margaret Rosenthal's The Honest Courtesan again. Whilst contemplating Rosenthal's past work, my thoughts turned to her future offerings. According to the University of Southern California, Margaret Rosenthal's current book project is "a study of sixteenth-century illustrated travel manuscripts that depict fashions, customs and scenes of everyday life in Italy from the perspective of European travellers..." I recalled that I had bookmarked an article that also mentioned these manuscripts. In the online newspaper for USC, The Chronicle, Carol Tucker states that "in her research, Rosenthal is studying two unpublished manuscripts - both illustrated 'travel albums' from the 16th century. One is located at the Doris Stein Research Center for Costumes and Textiles, based at LACMA, where Rosenthal is a visiting scholar; the other is housed at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, at Yale University. Both feature watercolour illustrations of everyday life, revealing in fine detail the costumes of the day."

So I got to thinking that maybe, just maybe, some of the images from these two unpublished manuscripts would be online, and would make great research material. At the Beinecke I found a few images, although they are all black and white. But at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, otherwise known as LACMA, I hit the jackpot! Not one, but two manuscripts depicting European dress. There ensued much eye-bulging and rabid drooling.

The first manuscript is Habitus Varium Orbis Gentium (Costume of the Various Peoples of The World), 1581. It is by Jean-Jacques Boissard (French, 1528-98). Ink on paper with gouache, watercolour, and gold. The other manuscript is named Album Amicorum of a German Soldier, 1595, gouache on paper. No name is given for the artist, but the manuscript is listed as originating in Italy, so I presume that the "german soldier" either lived in or visited Italy. You will find these, and many other costume and textile related items, at LACMA.

Unfortunately the online collections at LACMA are within a program that makes accessing specific pages and their images impossible, but there is a quick way to find the manuscripts. After loading the online collections page, you have to first hit the "Start" button. Then click on "Simple Search" and enter the key word Habitus, making sure to check "Only Records with Images" - this will bring up 5 pages from the first manuscript, which features 51 images of costume from not only Venice and other parts of Italy, but other countries as well. Most of these images feature three figures per image - two of these feature Venetian ladies' costume.

Another simple search with the key words Album Amicorum will bring up 9 pages and 101 individual images of costume and daily life in Venice and Italy, and also costume from other countries. You can further refine your search of Album Amicorum images to just Venetian images by adding the key word Venetian to Album Amicorum, the resulting nine images will feature Venetian ladies clothing.

Happy browsing!