Detail from the painting Attributed to William Scrots (active 1537-53), Elizabeth I when a Princess, c. 1546. Oil on panel.
Image courtesy of In Fine Style: The Art of Tudor and Stuart Fashion, pg. 4
All images reproduced with permission requested from Royal Collection Trust / © HM Queen Elizabeth II 2013.
The sophisticated processes of personal image-making in the 16th and 17th centuries are revealed in the wonderful book by Royal Collection Trust curator Anna Reynolds, In Fine Style: The Art of Tudor and Stuart Fashion (2013). Fashionable clothing from 1485 – 1714 was elaborate and leading tastemakers of the era were indeed ‘walking pictures’.
Surviving garments are scarce, so much of the record of the incredible finery exists in paintings by such masters as Holbein, van Dyck and Rembrandt. This book is a must, both in content and imagery, as one appreciates the intensive labor and meaning behind these exquisite garments from the past, and why traditions in textile production that remain today are so important!
Attributed to William Scrots (active 1537-53), Elizabeth I when a Princess, c. 1546. Oil on panel.
Image courtesy of In Fine Style: The Art of Tudor and Stuart Fashion, pg. 42
Detail from Frans Pourbus the Younger (1569-1622), Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia, Archduchess of Austria, c. 1598-1600. Oil on canvas.
Image courtesy of In Fine Style: The Art of Tudor and Stuart Fashion, pg. 207
Frans Pourbus the Younger (1569-1622), Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia, Archduchess of Austria, c. 1598-1600. Oil on canvas.
Image courtesy of In Fine Style: The Art of Tudor and Stuart Fashion, pg. 205
Left: detail from William Wissing (1656-87), William III when Prince of Orange, 1685, oil on canvas.
Right: Cravat end, large-scale needle lace, Venetian, 1670-90, reconstructed with modern linen and silk ribbon. Bernard Castle, The Bowes Museum, Blackborne Collection.
Image courtesy of In Fine Style: The Art of Tudor and Stuart Fashion, pg. 252.
Simon Verelst (11644-1721), Mary Modena, when Duchess of York, c. 1675. Oil on canvas.
Image courtesy of In Fine Style: The Art of Tudor and Stuart Fashion, pg. 262