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174 The Art Bulletin

A NOTE ON THE COSTUME OF TITIAN'S FLORA

EMMA H. MELLENCAMP

In 1859, Burckhardt wrote that Titian's so-called Flora (Fig. 1) is wearing an "engagement" (Verlobung) gown.' In 1966, Pope-Hen- nessy changed "engagement" to "bridal" and added the qualifica- tion "possibly."2 Titian's Flora is shown in a sixteenth-century undergarment, the camicia. The camicia was in high fashion in the Italy of Titian's time, and worn by both sexes. As worn by women, it was a full-length garment, always sleeved, always falling in full- ness from a gathering at the neckline, almost always of soft white cloth, and always worn, in society, with other layers of garments over it.3 Beginning as a daytime undergarment, the camicia alone came to be worn as a nightgown in the sixteenth and succeeding centuries4 and perhaps could be called a "post-wedding" gown, chronologically speaking, but this is an avenue which will not be explored here.

The neckline of Flora's camicia is left untied at center front, but its gathered edging is clearly visible at her right shoulder. In actual portraits in which the camicia appears under other garments, the ties are rarely left undone, although two portraits of Isabella d'Este, Giulio Romano's in Hampton Court Palace (Fig. 2), and Titian's in Vienna, show the neckline so arranged. As an article of con- temporary dress, various parts of the camicia were exposed ac- cording to the current dictates of fashion. In the fifteenth century it was usually allowed to show only at the shoulder, elbow, and fore- arm, while in the early sixteenth century in Italy more of it was exposed. Giulio's portrait shows Isabella's camicia above the short bodice, and through the openwork of the embroidered, interlaced braid of the skirt and large puffed sleeves. This portrait also shows that the camicia was indeed a full-length garment, extending well below the knee, fino a terra. Isabella's camicia is white, embroidered with a gold pattern.

Raphael's Donna Velata (Fig. 3), shows a slightly fuller camicia, closer in cut to that of Flora, appearing at the corsage above the corselet, through a slit in the upper left sleeve, and again at the fore- arm.5 The same artist's portrait of Giovanna d'Aragona (Fig. 4) shows the camicia again visible at the neckline above the velvet overgown. It is rendered here in more tailored pleats, embellished with decoration at intervals along the pleats, down the full extent

Spofe non Spofate.

Fig. 1. Brides-to-be of Our Times (from Vecellio)

of her left sleeve, and at both forearms where the soft cloth of the camicia sleeve is gathered into a small ruffling.

These three portraits, all of women in contemporary dress, none with evident allegorical, classical, or in any way ambiguous refer- ences, and all painted within a dozen years of Titian's Flora, show the camicia as it was worn in early sixteenth-century society-as an undergown.

One would not have expected a sixteenth-century woman to an- nounce her engagement or to attend her own wedding dressed only in her camicia, although in their History of Underclothes Willett and Cunnington have pointed out that there was an old wives' tale, repeated for several centuries, to the effect that a man was not liable for his bride's debts provided that he married her in no other ap- parel than her smock or shift (the English names for the Renais- sance camicia) and that there is record of one so-clad ceremony in England in 1547." Presumably, Titian was not suggesting this far- fetched possibility for Flora.

Cesare Vecellio's Habiti antichi et moderni ..., the best known

1 J. Burckhardt, Die Cultur der Renaissance in Italien, 8th ed., Leipzig, 1901, q, 87 n. 1. The pertinent section of this lengthy note reads: "Hieriiber die venezian. Trachtenbiicher, und Sansovino, fol. 150 fg ... Die Brauttracht bei der Verlobung-weiss, mit aufgel6st iiber die Schultern wallendem Haare--ist die von Titians Flora.

... ." This

note varies in length from edition to edition and is missing entirely from the authorized Middlemore translation into English. The excerpt given above comprises the entire note in Burckhardt's Gesammelte Werke, Basel, 1955, 5th ed., Iq, 249 n. 3.

2 J. Pope-Hennessy, The Portrait in the Renaissance, New York, 1966, 240: "It is argued by Burckhardt, possibly correctly, that the girl de- picted is shown in her bridal dress." H. Tietze considered Burck- hardt's theory but discarded it, writing that the "costume is . . . probably one of fantasy." (Titian, London, 1950, 372.)

3 F. Cognasso (L'Italia nel Rinascimento, Turin, 1965, 1 [v of the series Societfh e Costume], 149) used Titian's Flora as an illustration of the

Camicia da donna, worn sul corpo: "La camicia usciva fuori dall' abito attorno al collo ed anche le maniche erano in vista e scendevano dalle maniche dell'abito fino a terra." R. Levi-Pisetzky (Storia del costume in Italia, Milan, 1966, 11, 285) spoke of the garment's full- ness and wrist-length sleeves: "Queste camicie sono in tela di renso, d'Olanda o di Cambrai, lunghe e talvolta larghissime, provisste di maniche che arrivano al polso, ornate di ricami d'oro o colorati o neri, infine di trine ed reticellas." Franqois Boucher (Histoire du cos- tume en occident de l'antiquite a nos jours, Paris, 1965, 429) defined the French chemise as "issue de camiscia antique, vetement de des- sous en lingerie pour les deux sexes." In Germany the camicia was known as the Damenhemd, cf. Ruth Klein, Lexikon der Mode, Baden- Baden, 1950, 172.

4 Cognasso, L'Italia, i, 148f. 5 Levi-Pisetzky, Storia, iq, 52, n. to pl. 22. 6 Willett and Cunnington, History of Underclothes, London, 1951, 47.

TITIANIS FLORA 175

Done lie. Donzella da

Mara•. Spofa di Padoua. Spoe in Senlf..

R?

',?

v .2 %IL .....

Fig. 2. Venetian Maiden (from Fig. 3. Marriageable Maiden of Fig. 4. Paduan Bride (from Ve- Fig. 5. Ascension Day Bride Vecellio) Former Times (from Ve- cellio) (from Vecellio)

cellio)

of sixteenth-century Venetian costume books, shows a great many, differently dressed brides (text figs. 1-9),7 and it is evident that the sixteenth-century bride was normally very thoroughly dressed-in- deed, from a twentieth-century point of view, upholstered. Burck- hardt, however, called attention to Francesco Sansovino's descrip- tion of the wedding customs of Venice, where the bride is said to have been presented "vestita per antico uso di bianco con chiome sparse gid per le spalle con teste con filia d'oro."8 Burckhardt inter- preted the phrase "vestita per antico uso" from a nineteenth-century point of view, i.e., antico equaled the classical, Greco-Roman past; and he saw in Flora's garments the supposed simplicity of the classi- cal past. Moreover, the adjective bianco reinforced, for Burckhardt, his idea of the classical, since only comparatively recently has it been conceded that Greeks and Romans were not universally clothed in white. Now the phrase "per antico uso," when used in connection with garments actually worn by living people, seems to have had the meaning "old-fashioned," or perhaps in the case of brides, "traditional." Certainly it had this meaning for Sansovino's contemporary Vecellio, whose Spose antiche, Venetiane (text fig. 8) wear garments of the fifteenth century, oddly over-petticoated in the fashion of the late sixteenth century. Obviously the bride illustrated here is not dressed per antico uso in the sense of classical times, nor

do her garments remotely resemble those of Titian's Flora, except that the Vecellio figure shows her camicia briefly visible at shoulder and elbow, through slits in her overgown.

Actually, Vecellio is reliable only for fashions of the second half of the sixteenth century. For instance, of our text figure 9, which he calls Habito antico di donne, e di Spose, he says, "Circa il 1100, le spose, e donne di quel tempo usavano le maniche alla dogaline, lunghe quasi fino in terra, reversate sopra le spalle, e alcune di color panonazzo, e le veste cinte con cintura d'oro . . ."9 The gar- ments in question, though, belong no earlier than the beginning of the sixteenth century. They closely resemble those of the clothed figure in Titian's Sacred and Profane Love.

The young woman known as "Flora," wearing a simple, con- temporary undergarment, loosely outlined by a mantle of brocade, is not dressed as a bride. Instead she seems to be dressed in the manner of a nymph ("ad uso di ninfa"),1o and here the contemporary reference is definitely to the classical past. Iconographically, Flora's costume proceeds directly from theatrical practice in costuming nymphs and goddesses in the feste, intermezzi, and conviti, and, at least as early as the decade of the painting of Titian's Flora, the fe- male characters in classical Roman comedies.

As early as 1475, the contemporary camicia was the basic costume

7 Venice, 2nd ed., 1598, illus. facing pp. 96, 95, 67, 158, 99, 19, 97, 62, 68. In the captions over the illustrations and those over the accom- panying descriptions, Vecellio shifts freely from singular to plural, "sposa" to "spose," "donzella" to "donzelle," etc. Concerning text fig. 1, for example, captioned with the plural "Brides," the description indicates that both of these women are not brides. The occasion shown is a formal visiting day, after the lady has become officially engaged, during which she visits her friends and relatives, at all times accompanied by a woman attendant, who is shown standing behind the black-veiled bride-to-be.

The captions used here are taken from the descriptions accompany- ing Vecellio's illustrations, rather than from the short titles of the illustrations themselves.

8 F. Sansovino, Venetia citta nobilissima, Venice, 1663, Bk. 10, 401. 9 Vecellio, Habiti, 68.

10 A. M. Nagler (Theater Festivals of the Medici, 1539-1637, New Haven, 1964, 46) used the phrase "alla ninfale." While he was not primarily concerned with the cut of such garments, there are frequent references to performers dressed in "nymph costume."

176 The Art Bulletin

Spore nobili Spore fpofate. Spofeantich. Donne, c Sepat. Romane.

'iilo IF

Fig. 6. Roman Noblewomen as Fig. 7. Brides in Public, after Fig. 8. Venetian Brides of For- Fig. 9. Dress of Women and Brides (from Vecellio) Marriage (from Vecellio) mer Times (from Vecel- Brides of Former Times

lio) (from Vecellio)

of the theatrical nymph, and capelli sparsi her basic coiffure. In a convito given in honor of the marriage of Cammilla of Aragon, niece of King Ferdinand of Spain, and Costanzo Sforza of Milan, each of the numerous courses of the banquet was introduced by gods, goddesses, and personifications of the classical past, all dressed in Renaissance interpretations of classical costume.11 As described by a contemporary witness, Niccold d'Antonio degli Al- berti, Hebe, the goddess of youth, was a beautiful young woman with flying golden hair ("con li capelli d'oro sparsi") crowned with flowers and herbs. She wore a green garment "all'antica," raised at an angle which showed the camicia and one leg.12 During a three-

day festival in 1513 to celebrate the conferring of Roman citizen- ship upon Giuliano and Lorenzo de' Medici, an elaborate production of Plautus's Poenulus was presented, and the costumes therein were described in great detail by a contemporary, Paolo Palliolo Fanese.la The two principal women of the cast, Adelphasio and Anterastile, according to Fanese, wore elaborate camicie with immense sleeves.14 In addition, each wore a superb mantle of silver tissue cloth, knotted on the shoulder. Their hair was coiffed in the mode of Zaz- zera, brushed back and falling to the middle of their shoulders.15

So pervasive was this style for theatrical nymph costumes during the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries that, point for point,

11 M. Tabarrini, Descrizione del convito e delle Feste fatto in Pesaro, per le nozze di Costanzo Sforza e di Cammilla d'Aragona, nel mag- gio del MCCCCLXXV, Florence, 1870.

12 Ibid., 25. 13 His lengthy account was written to Madonna Lucretia Bovia di Zan-

chini Bolognese, and published with a preface by O. Guerrini, Le Feste pel conferimento del patriziato romano a Giuliano e Lorenzo de'

Medici, Bologna, 1885. 14 Fanese described their camicie as of the sort of Agorastocles, an

actor in the comedy, whom Fanese earlier had described as wearing "a showy camicia of silken veiling.... The sleeves were of admirably great size, bordered at the ends with tassels of black silk." Ibid., 132.

15 Ibid., 134.

1

1. Titian, Flora. Florence, Uffizi (photo: Alinari)

Or

APP46

?A

tli

2. Giulio Romano, Isabella d'Este. London, Hampton Court Palace. Copyright reserved to H.M. the Queen (photo: A. Carlebach, F.R.P.S.)

3. Raphael, Donna Velata. Florence, Galleria Pitti (photo: Alinari) 4. Raphael, Giovanna d'Aragona. Paris, Louvre (photo: Alinari)

TITIAN'S FLORA 177

it was reiterated in the treatise by Leone Ebreo de' Sommi (1527- 1592) on costuming the pastoral play:

For the nymphs . . . women's undergowns ["camicie"] with sleeves are suitable. I would take pains to starch them, so that when one has them bound with colored silk or gold ribbons, they make puffs, which please the eye and look elegant. Then, one should dispose a drapery of lovely- colored cloth from the waist downwards and girded high enough so that one can see the instep of the foot.

.... Further, they need a costly

mantle which is open below on one side and is fastened on the opposite shoulder. Hair should be thick and blond and should look natural. One of the nymphs may have it falling in waves loosely to the shoulders with

a garland on the head, another for variety may have a golden forehead jewel; again on another it would not be bad to bind the hair with a silken band and decorate it with fine veils which fall over the shoulder, as they do so charmingly in ordinary dress. One should do that in these pastorals, for in general it is the flattering veil which becomes women more than any other headdress and has the purity and simplicity which the costume of nymphs of the woods demands .... 16

Titian costumed his Flora as a nymph. His purpose, and the deeper meaning of the painting, remain to be discovered.17 But the lady is surely not dressed as a bride.

Ann Arbor, Michigan

16 Degli abiti da usarsi nelle rappresentazioni sceniche, 3rd of the Dialoghi in materia di rappresentazione scenica: cod. 31, ital. della Derossiana di Parma, in A. d'Ancona, Origini del Teatro Italiano, Turin, 1891, 11n, 581. A. M. Nagler (Sources of Theatrical History, New York, 1952) translated many excerpts from the Dialoghi into English. His rendering of camicie as "ladies' shirts," while technically accurate, is perhaps a bit misleading.

17 A brilliantly reasoned article by E. Verheyen ("Der Sinnegehalt von Giorgione's Laura," Pantheon, 26, 1968, 220-27) concluded on other than primarily costume grounds that Titian's Flora, among several other enigmatic portraits of women, must be considered an allegori- cal marriage portrait. His argument rests partly upon iconographic relationships among three portraits, Giorgione's Laura, Bartolom- meo Veneto's Symbolic Portrait, and Titian's Flora-an uncovered breast in all three, a veil covering the head of Laura, a myrtle-wreath and veil headdress on Bartolommeo's figure, and flower bouquets in the hand of Bartolommeo's figure and of Flora. Several of his con- clusions are difficult to accept and are relevant to this study: 1) the costume iconography of the single revealed breast; 2) the improba- bility that the headdress of either the Laura or the Bartolommeo figure must be considered a Renaissance wedding headdress. The dropping of chiton or tunica to reveal one breast is very common in classical costume iconography; it is not limited to the Venus Genetrix but is shared by goddesses such as Diana and many mor- tals, including Amazons. Renaissance masters seem to have followed the same pattern. Even if the ninfa with bared breast in Titian's

Education of Cupid (Borghese Gallery) is to be called "Marital Affec- tion" and is pertinent to a marriage allegory, the central Muse in Raphael's Parnassus (Vatican) also bares one breast, and need not be so considered.

The matter of the veil-and-wreath headdress as bridal regalia is one of considerably more conjecture. While a modern bride might accept a white veil wreathed with green leaves and a small bouquet as proper wedding accoutrements, a Renaissance bride would have rejected its nymphlike simplicity. Renaissance reformers, commenta- tors, and diarists alike condemned the extravagance and luxury of Renaissance women's dress. M. Sanuto (I Diarii, Venice, 1879-1903, 26, 253) spoke of a wedding in 1518 in which the bride was "vestita honoratissimamente et ben fornita sopra tutto di gemme et perle." Even the sumptuary laws, which fought a losing battle against ex- travagance in women's dress, conceded the right of a bride to wear a golden crown, "according to the ancient custom" (E. P. Rodoca- nachi, La femme italienne a l' poque de la Renaissance, Paris, 1907, 72).

Classical personifications in theatrical productions might easily, however, have worn just such a headdress as that of the Bartolommeo figure; cf. Leone Ebreo above. For example, in the convito of 1475, Tuccia, introducing the Viands of Vesta, wore a veil held by a crown of laurel to identify her as a representative of Vesta. So that it would be certain that she was indeed Tuccia the Vestal Virgin, she carried in one hand a sieve of silver, and in the other a gilded vase (Tabar- rini, 27).