And no, I'm not talking about locomotives and stuff....

Fra tutte le superflue et inutili spese, che fanno le donne di questa nostra città, la più dannosa alle facultà delli gentilhomeni et cittadini nostri è il mudar spesso le foze del vestir che fanno esse donne, come inter cetera hanno facto, che dove prima usavano la veste cum coda, hanno ( Read more... )

....and this one is too cool for words:


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Cutwork sleeves might be hard to define, seeing all kinds of cuts and slashes were used in sleeves in 16th century Italy. I've included those who have cut-out pattern in the fabric, without trims and bands as frame. Some are geometrical and dense, some are open and almost lace-like. And true enough, cutwork is a term originally used on lace ( Read more... )

A mini-mini trip to Northern Italy gave me the opportunity to visit the Villa Foscari (malcontenta) near Venice. The villa is by the Italian architect Andrea Palladio, which I went to study there some years ago. The only villa we didn't get to visit was the Foscari one, and it has since been high on my list. And finally ( Read more... )

90% of Venice (obviously not the buildings, but the ground level) is currently under water. How horrible. I can't imagine what kind of damages this will create. And the situation for the inhabitants is made worse by some of the vaporetti - bus-boats - being on strike. The water level is decreasing, but wind and weather might make the situation ( Read more... )

I came home yesterday, after having spent almost a week in Vicenza, Italy. It's been a very different trip, but definitely wonderful. I'm not used to travel with groups, I must admit, so it took me a few days to "acclimate" to dealing with 10+ people's opinions and rythm, but it was cozy as well. The big minus was that the rain poured down EVERY ( Read more... )

From the book "Art in Renaissance Italy", by John Paoletti and Gary Radke, 2005.

Called before the inquisition to answer charges against his painting of the Last supper (now known as the Feast in the house of Levi), Veronese acquitted himself well, giving some indication of his working practice and of his awareness of art outside Venice ( Read more... )