Sun Dec 9, 2018 09:41 AM

Morning Modelbuch (12/09/2018)

I’ve been mildly obsessed with Raphael’s “La Muta” lately. It’s held in Raphael’s hometown in the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, Urbino. It’s had a recent cleaning and lots of X-ray’s and study so there’s quite a bit of information out there on it. I’m, obviously, interested in the embroidery. Particularly as it is dated 1507 and is a quintessentially Florentine portrait. It utilizes the same “lazy S” pattern that shows up later in another quintessentially Florentine portrait, Bronzino’s portrait of Eleonora di Toledo. The “lazy S” shows up in the earliest pattern books like Lotz #2, 1524 Johann Schonsperger _Ein new modelbuch_ as well as _Corona di racami._ published by Giovanni Andrea Vavassore in 1530 but the pattern’s use is obviously older. Again, it’s a fascinating example of the pattern books being used for later information dispersal.

And for a bonus, there are two further patterns utilized in the same garment, with the S on the body of the sleeves, a different pattern at the neckline, and a third at the cuffs.

Vavassore https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b2100040m/f12.item Schonsperger in the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin: http://www.bildindex.de/document/obj14096873 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrait_of_a_Young_Woman_(La_Muta) https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/portrait-of-eleonora-di-toledo-with-her-son-giovanni/QAEccCsLDtbB4A?hl=en&avm=2