Gilding the Market: Luxury and Fashion in Fourteenth-Century Italy

332 Pages·2006·21.387 MB·English

by  Susan Mosher Stuard

Gilding the Market

Gilding the Market
Luxury and Fashion in Fourteenth-Century
Italy
Susan Mosher Stuard
UniversityofPennsylvaniaPress
Philadelphia
TheMiddleAgesSeries
RuthMazoKarras,SeriesEditor
EdwardPeters,FoundingEditor
Acompletelistofbooksintheseriesisavailablefromthepublisher.
Copyright(cid:2)2006UniversityofPennsylvaniaPress
Allrightsreserved
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmericaonacid-freepaper
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Publishedby
UniversityofPennsylvaniaPress
Philadelphia,Pennsylvania19104-4112
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Stuard,SusanMosher.
Gildingthemarket:luxuryandfashioninfourteenthcenturyItaly/SusanMosherStuard.
p.cm.—(TheMiddleAgesseries)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN-10:0-8122-3900-8(cloth)
ISBN-13:978-0-8122-3900-3
1.Luxurygoodsindustry—Italy—History—To1500. 2.Luxuries—Italy—History—To
1500. 3.Clothinganddress—Italy—History—Medieval,500–1500. 4.
Fashion—Italy—History—To1500. 5.Consumption(Economics)—Italy—History—To1500.
6.Italy—Economicconditions. I.Title. II.Series.
HD9999.L853I87 2006
381(cid:2).45687(cid:2)094509023—dc22 2005050370
Frontispiece:OpulentcostumeadorningtheThreeKings.AltichierodaZavioandJacopo
Avanzi,AdorationoftheMagi,c.1379.OratoriadiSanGiorgio,Padua.ArtResource,N.Y.
Contents
ListofIllustrations vii
1 Introduction 1
2 DesirableWares 20
3 GravitasandConsumption 56
4 CurbingWomen’sExcesses 84
5 CostsofLuxuries 122
6 ShopsandTrades 146
7 Marketmakers 182
8 Conclusion 220
Notes 233
Bibliography 285
Index 313
Acknowledgments 323

Illustrations
AltichierodaZavioandJacopoAvanzi,AdorationoftheMagi,
c.1379 frontispiece
Plates
Followingpage136
1. ReliquaryforthefootofSt.Blaise,probablyeleventhcentury
2. SchoolofGiotto,St.FrancisRenouncesAllWorldPossessions,1298
3. GiottodiBondone,OgnissantiMadonna,c.1305
4. GiottodiBondone,ExpulsionofJoachimfromtheTemple,c.1305
5. GuarientodiArpo,detailfromAngelicOrders,c.1350
6. MasteroftheUrbinoCoronation,TheAnnunciationtoZacharias,
1350–1400
7. Centermedallionofatwelve-medallionnecklace,fourteenthcentury
8. SchoolofGiovannidaMilano,LafamigliodelconteStefanoPorro,fresco,
1370,OratoriadiS.Stefano,LentatesulSeveso
9. Nicolo` daBologna,MadonnaandChildEnthronedbetweenSaints
PetroniusandAlle(Eligius),ChristintheInitialA,after1383
10. MasteroftheMadonnaofMercy,St.EligiusWorkingaGoldSaddlefor
KingClothar,latefourteenthcentury
11. MasteroftheMadonnaofMercy,paneldetailfromCommissionfromKing
ClothartoSt.Eligius,latefourteenthcentury
12. Crucifixion,England,c.1395
13. WisdomPersonified,miniature,cuttingfromaBibleHistorialebyGuiart
deMoulins,Paris,c.1400
14. LippodiVani,Priest,leaffromagradual,Siena,mid-1340s
Figures
1. TreatiseontheSevenVices,Genoa,1350–1400 6
2. Clevelandsilvergiltbelt,Siena,fourteenthcentury 50
3. AltichierodaZavio,CouncilofKingRamiro 58
4. Portraitofayouth,detail,frescoinSanGiovanniinConca 68
viii Illustrations
5. DamisellaTriulcia,virginculaMediolanense 102
6. AltichierodaZavio,BonifacioLupiandCaterinadeiFrancesiPresentedto
theVirgin 107
7. SchoolofLorenzetti,IlDiavoloTentatoresottoAspetoFemminile 111
8. Vestisdeseta,fromTacuinumSanitatis 147
9. JacobellodiBonomo(attributed),JohntheBaptist 232
Chapter 1
Introduction
If the fourteenth-century fashionable could have seen themselves!
If they had, perhaps the first age of fashion would have sputtered out rather
than caught fire. As chance had it, mirrors adequate for head-to-toe scrutiny
cameintouseonlytowardthemiddleofthenextcentury,sotheconstructive
exerciseofself-scrutinywasclosetoimpossible.Considerwhatthosepioneers
of fashion might have seen upon inspection of their decked-out selves: robes
hikeduptothecalf,thenthethigh,rightuptothebrinkofindecency;padded
shoulders,tightfit,parti-coloredtunicsandhose;tasseledhoods,floppyhats,
slashedand elongatedsleeves,liningsasrichasrobesthemselves;andenough
gilded silverware in accessories that the swish and rustle of fine fabrics were
setoffbytheclinkandclatterofmetalornament.Garisheffects,brightcolors,
gilt, and military affectations ushered in the age of fashion in Italian market
towns.Andthisreferstomen’sfashionablegarb;thecuriousroleofwomen’s
fashioncomesintothediscussionlater.
For both men and women the restrained, the refined, the carefully pre-
paredaestheticstagingofself,basedonasoberdiscernmentofthenicetiesof
self-fashioning, had to wait for a later day. The first age of fashion was bla-
tantlyobviousandadamantlygarish,whichgoesalongwaytowardexplaining
fashion’s initial impact on manners, urban culture, customer preference, and
heighteneddemandformaterialgoodsinthefourteenthcentury.
Making wise decisions about the sometimes alarmingly expensive goods
thatcomposedfashionableoutfits—bothpurchasinganddisposingofthem—
becameapressing concerninthefourteenthcentury,notjustintheprosper-
ouserabeforetheBlackPlague,landwars,bankfailures,andothereconomic
misfortunesloomedovertheItalianpeninsula,buteveninthesecondhalf of
the century when fashion found its way into the normal routine of everyday
town life. A fine sensitivity to the demands of le pompe, that is, the public
display of private wealth, spread from community to community. Display of
wealthwasaprojectformarkettownswherefashionflourishedandmentook
up shopping as a diverting pastime. While the high style of court society had
long been recognized by Italian merchants as a lucrative market to be culti-
vated and fed, courts represented relatively contained and inelastic opportu-
nity. Newer fashion-fed urban consumption promoted a more robust, if