Talk:Portrait of a Lady Known as Smeralda Brandini

Clothing

We don't have articles on guarnello (? same as gonnella) or cotta meaning a loose summer gown, but I have references and can add them to 1400-1500 in fashion and then fix the cotta link to go there. I may need a couple of days to get to it. - PKM (talk) 19:53, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

• My sources all use the spelling guarnello for a sheer overgown worn by pregnant women (also a cotton/linen fabric, or a coarse overdress or smock worn by working women). - PKM (talk) 19:24, 30 April 2009 (UTC)

  That makes sense. I was going to ask Shakko about the term "veil" as neither this portrait nor the Mona Lisa feature a veil. Yomangani^talk 08:20, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Shako did describe her as pregnant, which I removed (see edit summary) as looking no more so than Mrs Arnolfini & other ladies, and virgin saints, of the time, & not being referenced. Johnbod (talk) 10:02, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

I thought about putting it back in based on PKM's definition above, but if the wearing of a guarnello is proof positive of pregnancy that means we have an explanation for the Mona Lisa's enigmatic smile. Yomangani^talk 11:39, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

I've no real objection to it going back, but would prefer a modern supporting reference. There are waves in fashion among art historians on this sort of thing; no doubt they would be more tactful if the subjects were still alive. Johnbod (talk) 14:01, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

I did it because although "pregnant" silhouette is typical for Gothic (and Early Niederlandish art), Botticelli (as all Italian Renaissance) goes back to classical type of body, and this fashion disappear. But if I'll meet again the source from were I got it, I'll add ref about her pregnant look. --Shakko (talk) 10:29, 2 May 2009 (UTC)

At 30, after 4 kids, you don't think she's just putting on some weight.... Johnbod (talk) 15:36, 2 May 2009 (UTC)

I am sure she's pregnant. The Gothic silhouette included clothing of substantial fabrics pleated under the bust to add fullness. This dress is very light fabric, with the fullness hanging from the neckline, and her arm is resting on the bulge of her belly in a way that emphasizes the size. - PKM (talk) 16:35, 2 May 2009 (UTC)

More on guarnello

"GUARNELLO (M/F). Both a kind of linen or cotton textile, and the feminine garment constructed from such a fabric.... The guarnello, rascia or saia is the standard form of dress for angels. It is worn by children as a simple, washable garment, and possibly also by pregnant women. There are also examples of guarnelli listed under items of male clothing." - Dress in Renaissance Italy, 1400-1500, by Jacqueline Herald, Humanities Press: NJ, 1981, quoted here

The coarse overdress for working women definition is from The World of Renaissance Florence by Francesco Adorno, Translated by W. Darwell, Giunti, 1999, ISBN 8809013492. page 80

This site says:

A loose, sheer overdress (worn over a regular dress), was used at home and after birth - hence very few depictions of such garbs exist. Some has argued that it is not too unlike the sheer chemise like garbs Botticelli's "Three graces" wears in his "Primavera", but it can also be seen in his portrait of "Smeralda Brandini" in London.

That may also be following Herald, which is listed as one of the sources.

The fabric is also translated as "fustian" which would seem to be the coarser variety.

And here's the kicker: An article in the Globe and Mail (quoted with the crucial next line [http://www.stormfront.org/forum/showthread.php?t=329534 here]) says

Mona Lisa had recently given birth to a baby, a team of Canadian and French scientists announced Tuesday, so her mysterious smile may have expressed the weary joy of a mother with a newborn. Using infrared technology that allowed them to see beneath a layer of varnish, the researchers found that Leonardo da Vinci's model had a gauzy layer over her dress they say was typically worn by pregnant women of the time, or mothers who had recently given birth. The filmy robe was called a guarnello.

- PKM (talk) 03:44, 2 May 2009 (UTC)

Guarnello and citations for pregnancy

Frank Zöllner, "Leonardo's Portrait of Mona Lisa del Giocondo", Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 121, 1993, S. 115-138 (Reprinted in: Farago, Claire J. Leonardo da Vinci. Selected Scholarship, New York, Garland Publ.,1999, volume III, p. 243-266) states:

An allusion to pregnancy or to the importance of fertility and childbirth, for instance, can be found in Botticelli's and Raphael's portraits of pregnant or newly married women. Botticelli's painting shows a pregnant woman, thus alluding to her pregnancy, but also, more generally, to virtue with the column behind the sitter.⁷³

Footnote 73 is: "73. Sandro Botticelli, Portrait of Smeralda Brandini, tempera on panel, 65,7 by 41 cm, London, Victoria and Albert Museum. See R. Lightbown, Sandro Botticelli, 2 vols., London 1978, cat. no. B15; C. Caneva, Botticelli. Catologo completo dei dipinti, Florence 1990, pp. 43 and 56."

This article from Art News states that Botticelli's sitter is pregnant (in the context of Mona Lisa and the guarnello):

The veil reminded Mottin of a garment worn by the subject of Botticelli’s Portrait of a Lady (ca. 1470–75), in the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, who is pregnant. It was, he says, typically worn by “nursing mothers during the Italian Renaissance.” This accorded with the findings of scholarly research suggesting that Leonardo’s painting was commissioned to commemorate the birth of Lisa Gherardini’s second child (she ultimately had five). “This helps us date the painting more precisely, to around 1503,” Mottin explains.

And here is a PDF of the paper on the infrared refelctography of the Mona Lisa which states:

As art historian Bruno Mottin has observed using infrared reflectography: “The model’s whole body is covered in transparent veils that spill onto the left shoulder, fall onto the back of the chair, and run alongside the line of the

right arm. According to Jacqueline Herald, this transparent overlayer was called a guarnello and was an indoor garment worn only by young children, pregnant woman, or woman that recently gave birth. Lisa Gherardini (Madonna Lisa) did give birth to her second son, Andrea, on December 1, 1502, before the painting was commissioned in 1503.” (Mohen

06).

So once again this goes back to Jacqueline Herald as the source for the guarnello as a garment worn in pregnancy and by new mothers (but it does give Herald bona fides as a reputable source). "Mohen 06" is a footnote to Mohen, J.-P., Menu, M., Mottin, B. Ed., 2006a. Mona Lisa: Inside the painting, Abrams, New-York, in French as Mohen, J.-P., Menu, M., Mottin, B., 2006b. Au coeur de LaJoconde, Léonard de Vinci décodé, Gallimard, Musée du Louvre, Paris, France, 2006. The translation "veils" is unfortunate, as clearly many English speakers have assumed the reference is to a headcovering.

This area is covered (lightly) in Wikipedia at Speculation_about_Mona_Lisa. - PKM (talk) 17:19, 2 May 2009 (UTC)

Bandinelli

There was a mistake in the title. baccio bandinelli took his last name after he was nomined knight during his life, his real lastname was Brandini.. so his ancestor's name is, of course, Brandini. --Sailko (talk) 05:41, 13 July 2010 (UTC)