MORE OI!!
I must post another beautiful fresco I didn't even know existed, from the same batch as yesterday.
It's by Alessandro Allori (1535-1607), which was the pupil and ward (some say adopted son) of Bronzino. Allori's assistants also contributed to this work. The fresco is a dome/roof fresco in the loggetta of Palazzo Pitti in Florence. It was painted ca. 1589, and is called "Women on a terrace".
What I think is awesome about it is that it shows everyday actions of women with their hair hanging loose, in informal outfits. Also, there's several linen/lace items hanging above them, as if just washed. We rarely get to see those kind of items loose, out of context.
This is the full fresco (best I could get with my digital camera from a giant book page. It's from the same "Italian Frescoes" book as the previously mentioned Moretto ones). I don't think there's a "starting point" in this fresco (not one way it must be read), unless the women opposite of eachother is supposed to show the same person or reflect eachother in some way? I don't know. I think they're all different (with one exception). I'm thinking noblewomen and servants?
Her front hair seems done, but the rest is hanging loose. Her sleeves and chemise is folded up to her elbow, and she wears a sort of fine "towel" with lace (or drawwork?) inserts. And she wears jewellery, unlike the others, plus what looks like a very elaborate lace/drawwork apron. Definitely not a working class woman. Is she working on a collar of some sort? Looks like a hankerchief and two cuffs with lace are hanging to dry above her. She also seems to wear a saccoccia of a stripy material, and with buttons.
Woman in green washing her hair. Her dress looks very informal, but there appears to be a chemise underneath eitherhow. Do I spot a partlet to the left?
Woman combing her hair. The comb is two-sided, I've seen some surviving ones with the same patent. Ivory? She seems to wear a dress with a sturdier and more decorated bodice than the woman washing her hair. It even looks like she has a lace chemise, as was very much in vogue in Venice at this time. She too has gathered sleeves and chemise at the elbow, and she also wears an elaborate white "towel" over her shoulders - but this appears to be pinned or fastened in front.
Aaaaaw, cute! Woman washing a/her dog. Is she wearing a horizontally stripy dress? The stripes look very even and planned. She also wears an apron.
This woman, pouring out water, looks very much like a maid (despite the fact that she's blonde). Her dress is very loose, with narrow, turned-back sleeves, and she wears a turban-like head cover. She also wears an apron, but unlike the lady washing the dog, this one appears green and unadorned.
Lady braiding/doing her hair. I think this is the same one as the lady combing her hair. Notice the... thing on the side, hanging over the skirt? The seagreen/blue one with golden embroidery? It reminds me of a pocket as worn in the 18th century, or as the belt seen in Bacchiaccha's "Lady with a book of music" ( http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v31/operafantomet/renaissanceportraits/firenze2/bacchiacca1540.jpg ). The colour of her dress is also the same as the woman combing her hair, and they both wear this "elaborate towel" thing. There appears to be lace cuffs and a collar in the braided basket behind her. It looks like she's just put down her caffe latte for a monent, while fixing her hair... hehe. But probably a small vase of some symbolic significance (or maybe where she keeps her hairpins?).
I'll try and take some better photos of the full fresco, plus the white items hanging to dry in the "ceiling". I find them highly intriguing!