Mourning, Dress and Representation in the Widowhood of Two Seventeenth-Century Savoy Regents: Christine of France and Marie-Jeanne-Baptiste of Savoy-Nemours¹

1 I would like to thank Professor Ulinka Rublack of St John’s College, Cambridge, for her crucial suggestions and scholarly support.

Abstract

Early modern courts considered self-representation in an instrumental fashion analogous to today’s obsessiveness with the representation of oneself across social media, aimed at gaining admiration and following. Dress was crucial, as it has remained, in constructing images with precise connotations. Mourning, and its accompanying attire, was an ordinary component of a rigidly orchestrated court culture, where protocol was not necessarily in accordance with courtiers’ emotions. In spite of extensive scholarly research on widowhood, the study of female regenthood and early modern mourning dress has received lesser attention. The seventeenth-century House of Savoy saw the reigns of two female regents: Christine of France and Marie-Jeanne-Baptiste of Savoy-Nemours. Their mourning iconographies, examined in this article, demonstrate the temporal advancement of mourning across various phases, besides displaying the intersection of monarchic power and spousal grief through the tangible nature of clothing.

Notes

1 I would like to thank Professor Ulinka Rublack of St John’s College, Cambridge, for her crucial suggestions and scholarly support.

2 Philip Mansel, Dressed to Rule: Royal and Court Costume from Louis XIV to Elizabeth II (New Haven & London, 2005).

3 A notable exception, although focusing on a later chronological range of the early modern period, is Clarissa Campbell Orr (ed.), Queenship in Europe 1660–1815: The Role of the Consort (Cambridge, 2004), in particular R. Oresko’s chapter, ‘Maria Giovanna Battista of Savoy-Nemours (1644-1724): Daughter, Consort, and Regent of Savoy’, pp. 16-55.

4 Sandra Cavallo, Charity and Power in Early Modern Italy: Benefactors and Their Motives in Turin, 1541–1789 (Cambridge, 1995); Sandra Cavallo and Lyndan Warner (eds), Widowhood in Medieval and Early Modern Europe (Harlow, 1999); Julie Hardwick, ‘Widowhood and Patriarchy in Seventeenth Century France’, Journal of Social History 26 (1992), pp. 133–48; Catherine King, Renaissance Women Patrons: Wives and Widows in Italy, c. 1300–1550 (Manchester, 1998); Joan Larsen Klein, Daughters, Wives, and Widows: Writings by Men about Women and Marriage in England, 1500–1640 (Urbana & Chicago, 1992); Janine M. Lanza, From Wives to Widows in Early Modern Paris: Gender, Economy and Law (Aldershot, 2007); Allison Levy, Re-Membering Masculinity in Early Modern Florence: Widowed Bodies, Mourning and Portraiture (Aldershot, 2006); Allison Levy (ed.), Widowhood and Visual Culture in Early Modern Europe (Aldershot, 2003); Katherine A. McIver (ed.), Wives, Widows, Mistresses and Nuns in Early Modern Italy: Making the Invisible Visible Through Art and Patronage (Farnham, 2012); Franca Varallo (ed.), In assenza del Re: Le Reggenti dal XIV al XVII secolo (Piemonte ed Europa) (Florence, 2008).

5 The remarriage of widows was a contradictory matter that saw the Catholic Church hold a stance of ‘ambiguity and pragmatism’ between the economic and social needs of widows and the ideological doctrine that it professed. For an enquiry on the intricate and malleable interpretations on the re-marriage of French early modern widows, see Scarlett Beauvalet-Boutouyrie, Etre veuve sous l’Ancien Régime (Paris, 2001), in particular pp. 38-52 and pp. 229-240.

6 Giulio C. Cabei, Ornamenti della gentil donna vedova. Opera del signor Giulio Cesare Cabei. Nella quale ordinatamente si tratta di tutte le cose necessarie allo stato vedovile; onde potrà farsi adorno d’ogni habito virtuoso, & honorato (Venice, 1574).

7 Chapter V, ‘Delle vesti convenienti alla vedova’, in Cabei, Ornamenti della gentil donna vedova, pp. 35-40.

8 ‘con la lingua d’Agostino disse, le tue vesti siano pure e semplici non per bellezza non per vaghezza ma p[er] necessario coprimento del corpo […]’, Cabei, Ornamenti della gentil donna vedova, p. 36.

9 Michael E. Yonan, ‘Conceptualising the Kaiserinwitwe: Empress Maria Theresa and Her Portraits’, in Levy (ed.), Widowhood and Visual Culture in Early Modern Europe, p. 109.

10 Annette Dixon (ed.), Women Who Ruled: Queens, Goddesses, Amazons in Renaissance and Baroque Art (London, 2002), pp. 19-20.

11 Lou Taylor, Mourning Dress: A Costume and Social History (London, 1983), p. 37.

12 Sartorial: relating to tailoring, the making of clothes, the style of dress or a way of dressing.

13 Elizabeth Kuhns, The Habit: A History of the Clothing of Catholic Nuns (New York & London, 2003).

14 Nicole Pellegrin and Colette H. Winn (eds), Veufs, veuves et veuvage dans la France d’Ancien Régime (Paris, 2003), p. 230.

15 Catherine Lawless, ‘Widowhood was the Time of her Greatest Perfection: Ideals of Widowhood and Sanctity in Florentine Art’, in Levy (ed.), Widowhood and Visual Culture in Early Modern Europe, p. 22.

16 For an in-depth explanation of the Sabaudian dynasty’s claim to a royal title throughout the seventeenth century, see Robert Oresko, ‘The House of Savoy in Search for a Royal Crown in the Seventeenth Century’, in Robert Oresko, G.C. Gibbs and H.M. Scott (eds), Royal and Republican Sovereignty in Early Modern Europe (Cambridge, 1997), pp. 272-350.

17 As daughter of Henry IV of France and Marie de’ Medici, Christine of France was a sister to various sovereigns of Europe. Marie-Jeanne-Baptiste of Savoy-Nemours was not born a fille de France, yet via her maternal grandfather César de Bourbon-Vendôme, she was a great-grand-daughter of Henry IV of France and his mistress Gabrielle d’Estrées. Her more immediate relatives included cousins from the princely houses of Lorraine-Guise and Orléans-Longueville.

18 Ercole Ricotti, Storia della monarchia Piemontese (Florence, 1869), vol. 5, pp. 105-07.

19 For an in-depth account of the civil war see: Toby Osborne, Dynasty and Diplomacy in the Court of Savoy: Political Culture at the Thirty Years’ War (Cambridge, 2002), in particular chapter VIII: ‘The House of Savoy and the Scalia di Verrua: dynastic instability and civil war, 1632–1642’, pp. 236-71. On the regency of Christine of France see: Gaudenzio Claretta, Storia Della Reggenza Di Cristina Di Francia Duchessa Di Savoia (Turin, 1868); Giulia Datta de Albertis, Cristina Di Francia, Madama Reale (Turin, 1943); Giuliana Brugnelli Biraghi and Maria Bianca Denoyé Pollone, Chrestienne di Francia: duchessa di Savoia, prima Madama Reale (Turin, 1991).

20 On the urban development of Turin under Christine of France see Martha D. Pollak, Turin 1564–1680: Urban Design, Military Culture and the Creation of the Absolutist Capital (Chicago, 1991), in particular chapters IV (‘The Città Nuova Expansion: Fortification and Royal Claims’, pp. 83-107) and V (‘The Regency of Cristina: Dynastic War and the Creation of Piazza Reale’, pp. 108-50). For a comprehensive study of court celebrations at the court of Turin, see Clelia Arnaldi di Balme and Franca Varallo, Feste Barocche: Cerimonie e Spettacoli alla Corte dei Savoia tra Cinque e Settecento (Cinisello Balsamo, 2009); as well as the earlier, seminal, Mercedes Viale Ferrero, Feste delle Madame Reali di Savoia (Turin, 1965).

21 Robert Oresko, Maria Giovanna Battista, Clelia Arnaldi di Balme and Blythe Alice Raviola (eds) (Turin, 2017), pp. 61-2.

22 Louis XIV had suggested ‘the colossally wealthy’ Anne-Marie-Louise d’Orléans, duchesse de Montpensier, who in 1665 was thirty-seven years old. Concerned that this offer might again result in a childless union, Charles Emmanuel insisted that ‘il luy seroit plus avantageux d’épouser une simple demoiselle de ses estats, qui luy fist des enfans, qu’une princesse avec cent millions qui luy en fist pas’. Quoted in Oresko, Maria Giovanna Battista, pp. 61-3.

23 Archivio di Stato di Torino (hereafter AST), Corte, Materie politiche per rapporto all’interno, Cerimoniale, Funerali, Mazzo 2.

24 Alessandro Nicola Malusà, ‘Dress and Representation in Seventeenth-Century Mourning Portraiture of the House of Savoy’ (MPhil thesis, University of Cambridge, 2017).

25 ‘DEUIL. f.m. Douleur qu’on sent dans le cœur pour quelque perte ou accident, ou la mort de quelque personne chere. On a mené grand deuil par toute la France pour la mort de ce Prince, de ce Ministre; tout la Province était en deuil. Menage tient que ce mot vient du Latin dolium, qui a été formé de doleo. DEUIL, est aussi l’habit que l’on porte pour marque de cette douleur ou tristesse. Le grand deuil se porte en France avec du drap noir sans ornements, des manteaux longs, du linge de Hollande uni, & du grand crespe, les veuves avec un bandeau & un grand voile de crespes. Le petit deuil se porte avec serge ou crespon, & des rubans bleus & blancs meulez avec du noir. Le Roy & les Cardinaux portent le deuil en violet. En Castille à la mort des Princes on se vestoit de serge blanche pour porter le deuil. On le fit pour la dernière fois en l’année 1498. À la mort du Prince Dom Jean fils unique de Roy Ferdinand & d’Isabelle, comme dit Herrera. À la Chine on le porte avec des habits blancs. Il dure trois ans, & fais vaquer toutes sortes de charges & de magistratures. En Turquie on le porte en bleu. Au Perou on le portoit de la couleur de gris de souris. Rabelais le fait porter en verd. […]’, Antoine Furetière, Dictionnaire universel (The Hague & Rotterdam, 1690), p. 829.

26 ‘Biquoquet: m. The peake of a Ladies mourning hood’, Randle Cotgrave, A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues (London, 1611).

27 ‘Widows’s Peak: a widow’s mourning headdress with a peak dipping over the forehead. Originally this was a flap projecting forwards from a hood or head-dress but later it was indicated merely by a dip in the centre front (attifet). […]’, Doreen Yarwood, Costume of the Western World (Guilford & London, 1980), p. 186.

28 AST, Corte, Materie politiche per rapporto all’interno, Matrimoni, Mazzo 26, N. 10: ‘Inventario de Mobili, Argenterie, ed Abiti portati da Pariggi da Mad.^ma Christina di Francia Moglie del Duca di Savoia Vittorio Amedeo Primo’, 1619; AST, Corte, Materie politiche per rapporto all’interno, Gioie e Mobili, Mazzo 2, N. 11: ‘Inventari delle gioie, argenterie, e mobili di Mad.^ma R.le Christina di Francia ritrovate dopo la morte della Mad.^ma’, 25 January 1664; and N. 12: ‘Inventaire de la Lingerie de M.R. de glor. mem. faite le 17 Janvier 1664’, 17 January 1664.

29 ‘[…] The edge was usually wired to hold the form and was decorated with lace or a frill. The attifet was made of linen or silk, often embroidered and with an attached veil. Made in black it was a traditional mourning head-dress for women (widow’s peak),’ Yarwood, Costume of the Western World, p. 68.

30 ‘Supportasse, underpropper’, in Valerie Cumming, C. W. Cunnington and P. E. Cunnington, The Dictionary of Fashion History (Oxford & New York, 2010), p. 199.

31 In the unpaginated Anatomie of Abuses, the citation is found in the section on male Great Ruffes and Supportasses. Although it concerns male fashions, a later section on Great ruffes and minor ruffes found within the chapter on women’s attire references the previous description of supportasses: ‘[…] after that dryed with great diligence, streaked, patted and rubbed very nicely, […] and withall, underpropped with supportasses (as I tolde you before) the statelie arches of pride […]’, Phillip Stubbes, The Anatomie of Abuses (London, 1583), n.p.

32 ‘Conch’, in Elizabeth Lewandowski, The Complete Costume Dictionary (Lanham, MD, & Plymouth, 2011), p. 71.

33 Portrait of a Woman, ca. 1600, English School, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. (Inv. no 11.149.1), [https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435779].

34 Phyllis G. Tortora, Keith Eubank, Survey of Historic Costume: A History of Western Dress (New York, 2010), pp. 219-20.

35 According to its inscription, the etching was made after the French painter and engraver Jean de Saint-Igny (1595–1649). On the left: ‘De St Igny inven. et ex. cum Pri. Regis.’ On the right: ‘Bosse Insidit.’

36 Kuhns, The Habit, pp. 2-3; see also Geneviève Reynes, Couvents de femmes: La vie des religieuses cloîtrées dans la France des XVII^e et XVIII^e siècles (Paris, 1987), especially chapter XII, ‘Prisons ou hôtels?’.

37 Valeriano Castiglione, Historia della Reggenza di Madama Reale Christiana di Francia, duchessa di Savoia (1656), manuscript in AST, Sezioni Corte, Materie politiche per rapporto all’interno, Storia della Real Casa, Categoria III. Storie Particolari, Mazzo 17, Inventariato, N. 1.

38 Ada Peyrot, Carlo Alfonso Buffa di Perrero and Gabriella Buffa di Perrero (eds), La sindone nei secoli nella collezione di Umberto II (Turin, 1998).

39 Francesca Filippi, Palazzo Madama: Gli appartamenti delle Madame Reali di Savoia 1664 e 1724 (Turin, 2005), p. 31.

40 Philibert Torret (c.1600–1669) French painter active at the court of Turin.

41 The large diamond with three pendent pearls recurs in inventories of 1654 (AST, Corte, Materie politiche per rapporto all’interno, Gioie e Mobili, Mazzo 2, Inventariato, N. 2?, ‘Inventario delle gioie, […]’, 2 June 1654), 1664 (idem, N. 11, ‘Inventaro delle gioie di M.R.le Christiana di Francia fatto dopo la sua morte’, 25 January 1664), and 1665 (idem, N. 23, ‘Fidecommisso, e Primogenitura […]’, 28 January 1665). The cross with six diamonds appears in inventories of 1633 (idem, N. 1, ‘Inventaire des Pierreries Bagues, Perles et Joyaux de Madame Royalle […]’, 6 April 1633), 1638 (idem, N. 3, ‘Inventaire […] des pierreries de Madame R.le […]’, 16 February 1638), 1654 (idem, ‘Inventario delle gioie, le quali Madama Reale dichiara essere sue proprie […]’, 2 June 1654), 1664 (idem, N. 23, ‘Inventaro delle gioie di M.R.le Christiana di Francia’, 25 January 1664), and 1665 (idem, N. 23, ‘Fidecommisso, e Primogenitura […]’, 28 January 1665).

42 Kristine Kolrud, ‘The Gem and the Mirror of Heroic Virtue: Emanuele Tesauro and the Heroic at the Court of Savoy’, in Stefano Fogelbert Rota and Andreas Hellerstedt (eds), Shaping Heroic Virtue: Studies in the Art and Politics of Supereminence in Europe and Scandinavia (Leiden & Boston, 2015), pp. 69-70.

43 Emanuele Tesauro, Il Cannocchiale Aristotelico, O sia Idea delle Argutezze Heroiche Vulgarmente chiamate Imprese. Et di tutta l’arte simbolica, et lapidaria Contenente ogni Genere di Figure, & Inscrittioni Espressive di Arguti, & Ignegnosi Concetti. Esaminata in Fonte co’ Rettorici Precetti del Divino Aristotele, Che comprendono tutta la Rettorica, & Poetica Elocutione (Turin, 1654).

44 Peter Bondanella, Julia Conway Bondanella and Jody Robin Shiffman (eds), Cassell Dictionary of Italian Literature (London, 1996), p. 578.

45 Emanuele Tesauro, Panegirici (Turin, 1659).

46 Tesauro, ‘Il Diamante: Panegirico Academico’, in Tesauro, Panegirici, pp. 3-126.

47 ‘[…] quanto più nobile, & più arguto è il pensiero, che nel Diamante della nostra Reina riflessivamente si accenna con questa succinta Epigrafe nel suo nativo idioma: PLUS DE FERMETE’ QUE D’ESCLAT. Più di Sodezza che di Splendore.’ Tesauro, ‘Il Diamante’, Panegirici, p. 5.

48 Christine of France, 1650–1660, Gilles Rousselet, The British Museum, London (Inv. no 1927,1008.277), [https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3681140&partId=1&searchText=1927,1008.277&page=1].

49 Pliny the Elder, Natural History, trans. D.E. Eichholz, vol. 10, Book XXXVII. XV. 59-61 (London & Cambridge, MA, 1962), p. 211.

50 Marie-Jeanne-Baptiste, last quarter of seventeenth century [c. 1675–1680], unknown artist, Castello di Racconigi, Racconigi (Inv. no R 5593).

51 Savoy Knot: knot used in the heraldic badge of the House of Savoy. Tom J. Burgess, Knots, Ties and Splices: A Handbook for Seafarers, Travellers, & All Who Use Cordage With Historical, Heraldic, And Practical Notes (London, 1884?).

52 Sévigné Bow: a bodice ornament worn by the décolletage, consisting of a double bow with hanging pendants of precious stones and pearls. Popularised by French aristocrat and writer, Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné (1626–1696). The bows were initially made of ribbons and would later become elaborate stomacher brooches entirely encrusted in jewels. Sophie McConnel, Metropolitan Jewelry (New York, 1991), p. 105.

53 Devant de Corsage: French for ‘stomacher’. Considering that ‘pièce d’estomac’ was the more widespread term for a stomacher, towards the eighteenth century the devant de corsage began to denote jewelled creations that would cover the stomacher.

54 Robert Oresko provides an exhaustive interpretation of the heraldic semiotics behind the open ducal crown and the closed royal crown in the context of the House of Savoy. See Oresko, ‘The House of Savoy’.

55 Marie-Jeanne-Baptiste of Savoy-Nemours, last quarter of the seventeenth century, unknown artist, Castello di Racconigi, Racconigi (Inv. no R 2665).

56 Paolo Giovio, Dialogo dell’Imprese Militari et Amorose di Monsignor Giovio, Vescovo di Nocera; Con un Ragionamento di Messer Lodovico Domenichi, nel medesimo soggetto (Lyon, 1559). First published in 1555.

57 ‘E per dichiarare questo suo generoso pensiero di clemenza, figurò un’ Armellino circondato da un riparo di letame, con un motto di Sopra, MALO MORI, QUAM FOEDARI. Essendo la propria natura dell’Armellino di patir prima la morte per fame e per sete, che imbrattarsi, cercando di fuggire, di non passar per lo brutto, per non macchiare il candore e la pulitezza della Sua pretiosa pelle’, Giovio, Dialogo dell’Imprese Militari et Amorose, pp. 30-31.

58 Henry Peacham, Minerva Britannia, or a Garden of Heroical Devises, furnished and adorned with Emblems and Impresses of sundry natures, Newly devised, moralised, and published (London, 1612).

59 Peacham, Minerva Britannia, p. 75.

60 Christine’s numerous jewellery inventories repeatedly record a jewel with corresponding characteristics, namely a large table-cut diamond with three pearls — the central one described as the forty-five carat Pelegrina. The arrival of this pearl at the court of Savoy is substantiated by Pierre Matthieu, Histoire de France: soubs le regnes de François I, Henry II, François II, Charles IX, Henry III, Henry IV, Louys XIII, vol. 2 (Paris, 1631). The French historiographer chronicles the provenance of this pearl as a wedding gift of Philip II of Spain for his daughter Catalina Micaela, whose marriage with the duke of Savoy in 1585 brought the jewel to Turin (p. 94). The Savoy Pelegrina must not be confused with other notable, similarly named pearls, yet of different carat weight, originating from the Spanish court (Elizabeth Taylor’s Peregrina or the Yusupov Pelegrina).

61 ‘Une chesne de perles d’un Carat, e plus lune au nombre de deux mil neuf cents septante / Notà que ceste cheste estoit de troismil nonante perles dont Madame Royallé a donné le surplus’, AST, Gioie e Mobili, ‘Inventaire de ce qui a estè Consigné par Mons.r Le Marquis de S.t Germain des pierreries de Madame R.le’, 1638.

62 ‘[§] 56. Una collana di perle di dieci giri in numero di sei cento cinquanta cinque l’une per l’altre di caratti tré circa l’una pesano tutte once quindeci, e tré ottavi.’, AST, Corte, Materie politiche per rapporto all’interno, Gioie e Mobili, Mazzo 2, N. 2?, ‘Inventario delle gioie, […]’, 1654; ‘[§] 38. Una Collana di perle di dieci giri di N° seicento cinquanta cinque l’une per l’altre di caratti tré e a l’una, pesano tra tutte oncie quindeci e tré ottavi.’, AST, Corte, Materie politiche per rapporto all’interno, Gioie e Mobili, Mazzo 2, N. 11, ‘Inventaro delle gioie di M.R.le Christiana di Francia, fatto dopo la sua morte’, 1664.

63 ‘[§] 55. Un grosso collo di perle che Madama Reale porta al collo in numero venti sette pesano danari trenta quattro e mezzo con il bindello.’, idem, N.2?, ‘Inventario delle gioie, […]’, 1654; ‘[§] 37. Un collo di grosse perle di N° venti sette, quali pesano col bindello danari trenta quattro e mezzo.’, idem, N. 11, ‘Inventaro delle gioie di M.R.le Christiana di Francia, fatto dopo la sua morte’, 1664.

64 Christine of France, c. 1660, unknown artist, Residenzmuseum, Munich. (Inv. no ResMü.L-G0061 [loan of the Bavarian State Painting Collections, Inv. no 7508]), [https://www.sammlung.pinakothek.de/de/artist/franzoesisch/christina-von-frankreich-1606-1663-herzogin-von-savoyen-gemahlin-des-viktor-amadeus-39-i-von-savoyen].

65 Modernised between 1633 and 1660, one room of the castle’s central block was called ‘Stanza Dei Gigli’, that is ‘Hall of the Lilies’. Citation from Oresko, ‘The House of Savoy’, p. 311.

66 Oresko, ‘The House of Savoy’, p. 311.

67 The hurluberlu, or hurlupée, was a hairstyle developed at the court of Versailles in the early years of the 1670s. It consisted of a mass of densely curled hair all over the head, that was gathered into a bun at the back with long hanging ringlets of varying lengths reaching the shoulders. Madame de Sévigné wrote about the hurluberlu in a letter dated 4 April 1671: ‘Now just imagine the hair parted peasant fashion to within two inches of the back roll; the hair each side is cut in layers and made into round loose curls which hang about an inch below the ear; it looks very young and pretty — two bouquets of hair on each side.’ Mme de Sévigné, Letters, cited in Norah Waugh, The Cut of Women’s Clothes: 1600–1930 (New York, 2011), p. 62.

68 Anne of Austria, mid-seventeenth century, Charles Beaubrun, Musée national des Châteaux de Versailles et Trianon, Versailles (Inv. no MV 7074), [https://www.photo.rmn.fr/archive/95-010334-2C6NU0N7PQ9U.html].

69 Originating from Spain the garcette consisted of ‘tufts of bouffant hair on the ears with the hair raised and pulled [back and] flat on the front’ into a chignon. It was characterised by ‘a little fringe of short hair shaped around the face, sometimes curled, and sometimes simply combed’. Favoured for its natural appearance, for a while it displaced the wig which often revealed the wearer’s hairline. Gilles Ménage’s Dictionaire Etymologique states that the garcette arrived in France from Spain with Anne of Austria, and remained popular through her queenship. Comtesse Marie de Villermont, Histoire de La Coiffure Féminine (Bruxelles, 1892), p. 522; ‘Garcette’, Gilles Ménage, Dictionaire Etymologique ou Origines de la langue Françoise (Paris, 1694), pp. 347-8.

70 Madame de Maintenon, c. 1700, Antoine Trouvain, Musée national des Châteaux de Versailles et Trianon, Versailles (Inv. no LP30.110.1), [https://www.photo.rmn.fr/archive/10-548827-2CWBF1MBI6N.html].

71 Robe à la Lévite, 1781, Pierre-Thomas LeClerc and Nicolas Dupin, in Gallerie des Modes et Costumes Français. 37e Cahier des Costumes Français, ‘29e Suite d’Habillemens à la mode en 1781 […]’, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Inv. no 44.1524), [https://www.mfa.org/collections/object/gallerie-des-modes-et-costumes-français-37e-cahier-des-costumes-français-29e-suite-dhabillemens-à-la-mode-en-1781-nn216-lévite-pelisse-à-parement-et-colet-351649].

72 A woman’s gown worn during the last quarter of the eighteenth century, the Lévite followed the trend for exotic inspired fashions set by the robe à la Polonaise. Inspired by a Jewish costume from a revival of Racine’s play Athalie in the 1770s, the Lévite was distinguished by ‘a shawl collar and pleats in the back, held with a loose scarf around the waist’. Judith Chazin-Bennahum, The Lure of Perfection: Fashion and Ballet, 1780–1830 (New York & London, 2005), pp. 24-5.

73 ‘Cette Robe a été porte par une Dame de qualité pendant le Deuïl de M. Thérèse d’Autriche mere d’Empereur et de la Reine de France’.

74 It is important to note that the Masino castle was owned by the noble Valperga family, and that Marie-Jeanne-Baptiste’s portraits probably entered the family art collection via her amorous liaison with Carlo Francesco I di Valperga, count of Masino — a favourite of hers from 1680, who was thirteen years her junior.

75 Marie-Jeanne-Baptiste, turn of the eighteenth century (1695–1700), unknown artist, Castello di Masino, Caravino, (Inv. no SBAS TO 1561).

76 ‘Fontange’: female ‘headdress named after Mlle de Fontanges, mistress of Louis XIV, […] worn from the 1680s until about 1710.’, Doreen Yarwood, Illustrated Encyclopedia of World Costume (London, 1978), pp. 182-3.

77 Oresko, Maria Giovanna Battista, pp. 67-8.

78 Marie-Jeanne-Baptiste, first quarter of eighteenth century, unknown artist, Castello di Racconigi (Inv. no R 356).

79 Giora Sternberg, Status Interaction during the Reign of Louis XIV (Oxford, 2014), p. 97.

80 Ibid., Status Interaction, p. 73.

81 Considering the return of Puget de la Serre from Brussels to France in 1639, the death of Victor Amadeus I in 1637, and the presence, within the Panégyrique, of a second engraving signed by Nicolas Larmessin (1632–1694), it is evident that the panegyric was compiled after 1639. Véronique Meyer, ‘Un auteur du XVIIe siècle et l’illustration de ses livres: Jean Puget de La Serre (1595–1665)’, Bibliothèque de l’école des chartes 158 (2000), pp. 27-53.

82 Dixon, Women Who Ruled, p. 168.

83 Oresko, ‘The House of Savoy’, p. 274.

84 Sydney Anglo, Images of Tudor Kingship (London, 1992), p. 3.

85 Theodore Rabb, ‘Politics and the Arts in the Age of Christina’, in Marie-Louise Rodén (ed.), Politics and Culture in the Age of Christina (Stockholm, 1997), p. 13.

86 Oresko, ‘The House of Savoy’, p. 310.

87 Katherine Crawford, Perilous Performances: Gender and Regency in Early Modern France (Cambridge, MA, 2004), p. 32.

88 Oresko, ‘The House of Savoy’, p. 275.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Alessandro Nicola Malusà

Alessandro Nicola Malusà Alessandro Nicola Malusà is a dress historian and curator, a graduate of Central Saint Martins, the Warburg Institute and the University of Cambridge. His previous academic research has focused on the sartorial culture of the House of Savoy throughout the early modern period. He has curated two fashion exhibitions at the Nouveau Musée National de Monaco (‘Princess Grace: More Than An Image’, Villa Sauber, 2012; and ‘Le Boudoir de Joséphine’, Villa Sauber, 2015–2016) and is pursuing doctoral research on dress within the œuvre of the painter Frans Pourbus the Younger at the University of Cambridge.