Wed Aug 25, 2021 09:58 AM

August 24, 2021

Portrait of Maria Cristina de’ Medici at age 3,dated 1613. Possibly attributed to Valore Casini. Displayed at Ambras Castle in Innsbruck. Picture gallery, 3395, Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, picture gallery www.khm.at/de/object/4a8423d5e9/

A later adult portrait of her in the style of the Flemish artist Justus Sustermans from auction. http://www.artnet.com/artists/justus-sustermans/portrait-der-maria-cristina-de-medici-eFN1aQA4ypKXRAlH1exq6w2 The photograph size isn’t large enough to get a good look at the lace, but the effect of the lavishness of it is evident.

I’ve put in patterns from Giovanni Battista Ciotti’s “Prima parte de’ fiori, e disegni di varie sorti di ricami” not because they are good matches, but because the book has both the heavier needlelaces and the more sparse ones. Dated 1591, Lotz number 121. Ciotti is not only important on its own, it was pirated by Barley and republished in England in 1596 as ” A booke of curious and strange inventions, called the first part of needleworkes.” The first English book published was a renamed copy of Vinciolo, so Ciotti is in good company. Additionally, I haven’t linked it in awhile and it is a fun one to browse through. The BNF copy at Archive. https://archive.org/details/ciotti1591primabnfbpt6k15108613/Ciotti1591PrimaBNFbpt6k15108613