In November 2020, I had the immense privilege of going for a 1 month internship with Ninya Mikhaila of the Tudor Tailor in Nottingham, UK. This was a fantastic immersion into 16th century fashion, accessories and sewing. For the first time, I got to do research based on historical sources and I learned many things about fabric, sewing, history and 16th century sumptuary laws.
On my way home, I booked a night in a hotel in London, because I absolutely wanted to see all of the extant historical clothes at the Victoria and Albert museum. In particular, I planned on spending several hours in the 16th and 17th century exhibits, and got to examine everything there. Surprisingly, the piece that got me most excited was a marble sculpture. This is the 1578 bust of Cassandra Sirigatti, a venitian noblewoman.
Here is the description from the V and A website:
Cassandra Sirigatti
1578
Ridolfo Sirigatti carved the portrait of his mother, Cassandra, dressed in rich materials. Though her fold-down collar is relatively simple for the time, her dress appears to be made of brocade in the pomegranate pattern popular in Florence. She wears a widow’s veil in commemoration of her husband. In his treatise Il Riposo the writer Raffaele Borghini described the veil as 'a wonderful thing, so delicately worked that one can see the light through it'.
This bust is a rare example of Ridolfo Sirigatti's activity as a sculptor (active ca. 1570-1600). Together with its companion piece, depicting Niccolò Sirigatti (A.12-1961), it shows high technical skill and an unusual and original style in comparison with Florentine contemporary sculpture. The peculiar disposition of the shoulders in both busts, with the right one pulled slightly back from the rest of the figure, and the left pushed slightly forward, shows the artist's intention to give an impression of movement. The bust of the artist's mother displays a finer and more mature rendering of the
marble, which is likely related to its later dating (two years after the father's portrait). Specifically, the handling of the veil seems to anticipate Roman 17th century sculpture.
Historical context note:
In his own day Ridolfo Sirigatti seems to have been regarded as a sculptor of considerable eminence. The son of a rich textile merchant and of Cassandra, daughter of the painter Ridolfo Ghirlandaio, Ridolfo continued his father's mercantile activity and brought fame to his family by becoming a Knight of Santo Stefano (the order instituted by Grand-Duke Cosimo I de Medici) in 1581. He was also very interested in the arts and practised sculpture. Before the discovery of the present bust and its pendant in 1961, his only documented work was a bust of grand-duke Francesco I in a niche of the façade of the Palazzo dei Cavalieri di Santo Stefano in Pisa (Sirigatti only provided the model for the bust). He features as one of the four protagonists in Raffaele Borghini's art treatise Il Riposo (1584), as an art expert and collector. The bust can be identified with the marble head of "his (Sirigatti's) mother, which enables us to see her as though she were alive" mentioned in the dialogue between Ridolfo and the collector Bernardo Vecchietti. Borghini praised this bust not only for its likeness, but also for a detail which he noted with admiration: "A wonderful thing about it is a most delicate veil, which he has placed on her head. It falls down on her shoulders and is carved free of the neck the whole way round, and it is so diligently worked that one can see the light through it." It is inscribed with the sitter's name and the date on the socle (CASSANDRA GRILLA[N]DARIA NICOLAO SIRIGATTIO NVPTA MDLXXVIII). On the back there is another inscription, a dedication in which presents the bust as a tribute from Sirigatti to his mother: QVEM GENVI RODVLPHVS ANIMI CAVSA CAELAVIT (Ridolfo, whom I bore, sculpted this as a tribute of love).
For me, the most fascinating is the detail in the garments and how we can understand how things are cut, assembled and secured onto the body. Here are my observations:
There is a dipped waistline, and a knotted belt. You can see the creases of the bodice below the bust. The curve of this bodice suggests to me that it is stiffened, not boned.
You can also see the carved fabric details that suggests that it is some kind of damask weave, perhaps with gold or silver filaments.
The skirt is gathered on the sides, but not the front.
We can see that the bodice is laced closed with spiral lacing at the side back.
There seems to be a different fabric on the back, but perhaps this is just unfinished carving.
The veil is pinned! Amazing how the sculptor actually carved a pin shape! Also, we can see the detail of the folding of the veil to gather it down to the point where it is pinned. It is also interesting to see the bottom edge of the veil, which looks like it is finished with an overcast stitch.
You can also see the neckline corner right beside the veil here: this neckline shape is typical for the period.
There are 5 parts to the sleeve: the first crenelated edge, the puffy part, the second crenelated edge, cap sleeve edge, and proper long sleeve. It seems that this sleeve itself is gathered underneath the cap sleeve.
You can rarely see the actual shape of the cleavage in paintings, but here it is clearly defined, albeit modest. There is also an under layer, which is presumably the smock, the linen undergarment.
The collar in the picture is attached to the partlet, a shirt-like under layer typically made out of fine white linen. You can see the very fine gathers of the strip on the partlet collar.
It appears to me that the lines on the veil are creases, not texture in the fabric, because they are alternating inwards (groove) and outwards (ridge) shapes (with some more prominent than others). It makes sense to me because linen is a very crease-prone fabric and there are other historical sources showing fabrics that proudly display their perfect folding creases.
Also, we can see that she is wearing a coif over her hair, under the veil.
It was such a thrill to be able to see all of the details of this carving and to have all of the things I saw with Ninya confirmed in a historical work of art. In fact, I find myself thinking about art-ception. This bust is a work of art depicting the work of art of an unnamed 16th century tailor, and their noblewoman client. Pretty cool!