2/17/2010

Treasures of the Modern Renaissance: Beatrice d'Este Gown, 1480

Another item spotlight from Treasures of the Modern Renaissance, a collection of Renaissance art pieces created by modern Florida artists.

DSCN0425Beatrice d'Este Gown, 1480

This dress is based on the 1497 funerary sculpture of Beatrice d’Este and her husband, Ludovico Sforza by Cristoforo Solari. The dress was originally created for the occasion of the baptism of her son. The dress sleeves were designed in the trendy “Spanish style” of the time, and the gown was burgundy in color with gold couching and silver tassels. Instead of recreating the dress exactly, the design was modified for outdoor wear and machine laundering. The color black was the most popular color of the Spanish Court in that time.

Beatrice d’Este (1475-1497) was Duchess of Milan and one of the most well known patronesses of art in Renaissance Italy. Leonardo da Vinci presented Beatrice with a beautiful portrait of herself as a wedding gift in 1491. Rumors have suggested that Beatrice may have been the inspiration for da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. Beatrice d’Este was entombed at Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, the same church in which da Vinci painted his Last Supper.

lisabetta_black About the Artist: Lisa Pompeo

Lisa Pompeo currently works at Aspire Financial Services in the Retirement Plan Implementation Department. She is a self-taught seamstress and began early in life doing needlecrafts with her mother and sisters. She does all of her sewing on her Grandmother’s 1950 Singer machine. Lisa is known as Mistress Lisabetta Maria da Firenze, OL in the Society for Creative Anachronism.

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