Just one more from the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore

Kitchen Interior, Dirck de Vries, Netherlandish, ca. 1600

And this is why we love the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore

Because they have Great Stuff! For Example:















Gondola Ride (A page from a larger work "Book of Italian Costumes")Niclauss Kippell (German) 1588

And they plan Great Exhibits! I know where I'll be this fall. In celebration of my birthday I'm going to their upcoming show:

Revealing the African Presence in Renaissance Europe

This is particularly timely for me because I have spent the last few days working on a page of black folks in period art. One of my personal challenges as a reenactor of color has been finding a plausible persona which *includes* (rather than ignores) my actual ethnic heritage. I've been scouring the web looking for the occasional images I can remember seeing of people of African heritage just living their lives in Venice, or Amsterdam, or wherever. They are there, yes, but terribly hard to locate...and then here comes The Walters Art Museum with an entire show which not only discusses the history and art of the period but also what has happened to the works over time.

(Apparently the little Medici girl in the painting below was painted out in the 19th Century and rediscovered during cleaning. Wrap your head around that.)

I can hardly wait for the show!


Portrait of Maria Salviati de Medici and Gulia de Medici, Jacopo Pontormo, 1600
Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, Maryland

Fantasy shopping....

They have the most wonderful Spanish case/traveling desk for sale on ebay...


I want!

Have you ever heard of Matthaus Schwarz?

I hadn't until today. Trust me, you must go read the last two paragraphs on this page, look at the pictures and then tell me if it makes your little seamstress' heart beat faster!

http://theborgias.wetpaint.com/page/Italian+Renaissance+Clothing+and+Fashion

(Can you imagine? There are more than 130 little pictures of him in his new outfits...I can only dream of the day when I can say the same!)

We Were There: Stripes!

Do you ever wonder what is going on with all the outfits in solid colored fabrics at events? I do!

I understand that an opulent damask or brocaded velvet in 100% silk or linen may be out of the reach of the average renactor's pocketbook, but what could possibly explain the absense of of that most basic of woven patterns-stripes?

Hmmm....?

I've heard some people claim that 'they didn't wear stripes in europe in period' but the pictoral record would seem to disagree.

So I decided to start a page on which I can post some of the lovely evidence I find for stripes!

Startng with this lovely at the Brookly Museum;

Portrait of a Lady as Mary Magdalen, Barolomeo Veneto, 1520's

Tasty nibble #19: Partlet back is assembled

Now I'm moving on to the front...

Well the ACC show-off-your-work-&-announce-the-winner event (otherwise known as 12th Night)is over...

Is there a winner? Is judging still going on? Did someone declare Internet silence until some later date?

I, for one wanna see some pictures!