Dolls, fashion and diplomacy
Fig. 1 Francesco Francia, Federico Gonzaga, 1510. Tempera on wood, 47.9 x 35.6cm. New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 14.40.638.
Isabella d’Este had a noted reputation for procuring and using exotic and luxurious materials for self-representation. As a leading figure of the Italian Renaissance, other elite men and women sought her counsel and assistance when looking to build their own wardrobes or obtain the contacts necessary to buy appropriate or on-trend fabrics. There are many examples of this in the copybooks of Isabella d’Este in which the marchioness acquiesced or declined requests for textiles or access to her trading networks. Two pertinent examples are found in the correspondence of her two sons, Federico (shown at around age ten in Fig. 1, while in Rome) and Ferrante, when they were sent abroad to the courts of France and Spain respectively, during the middle phases of the Italian Wars (1494-1559). The Italian Wars were a series of conflicts between the Valois rulers of France, and the Habsburg rulers of Spain and the Holy Roman Empire for control of the Italian peninsula. During this time, small states like Mantua were vulnerable to conquest by foreign armies and used cultural diplomacy to avoid the loss of political autonomy. From 1515-1517 and 1523-1525, Federico and Ferrante spent time in the courts of Valois king François Ier and Habsburg ruler Charles V where they acted as pages to the most prominent threats to Mantua’s independence. The trigger for Federico's departure was the French conquest of Milan in 1515 while the 1522 imperial victory at the Battle of Bicocca likely motivated Isabella d'Este to send Ferrante to Spain. The presence of Federico and Ferrante at foreign courts acted as a display of loyalty towards rulers who threatened Mantua's autonomy.
Fig. 2 Fashion doll?, ca. 1590s. Stockholm, Livrustkammaren, 77 (56:15) 260 © Göran Schmidt/Livrustkammaren (CC BY-SA).
While at court, both boys formed connections with influential courtiers and nobles. These men and women admired Isabella d'Este's style and her sons were the subject of requests from courtiers and the rulers themselves for fashions, textiles, and even dolls to be sent from Italy. Federico and Ferrante were practically compelled to oblige as they needed to please members of their host court in order to maintain their reputation and honour. They petitioned their mother for fashion dolls dressed wearing her latest trends and hairstyles for emulation in France and Spain. Sometimes, these requests were specific, for example, a style best suited to a widow. At other times, Federico and Ferrante asked Isabella to send specific types of fabrics such as golden silk or ermine or specific clothing items like a vest or overcoat in order to conform to local trends or appear magnificent while at court. Isabella usually indulged such requests, but not without some hesitation. For example, she refused to send more expensive and exotic items like perfumes and leather gloves to anyone who asked – only to the most powerful women, and she did not like commissioning items which she felt would ill-suit her sons’ body types.
Isabella’s attention to detail, both in terms of the appearance of fabulous materials, their origin, and their wearer is evident in Titian’s portrait in the intricate designs of the silk, the delicate frill, the sumptuous black velvet, and the expensive ermine draped across her neck. Styles that she taught her sons and that others frequently sought to emulate. She used the expensive and rare nature of the fabrics and animal pelts she wore to communicate her wealth, status, and connectivity in the competitive early modern political world. While she was not a formal ruler, she had access to soft power through her dress. Her access to trade networks was a political and diplomatic tool and portraits like these served to advertise not only her sense of style, but her savvy negotiation skills and political ability.
Jessica O’Leary, Australian Catholic University
Select bibliography
Primary sources
Isabella d’Este: Selected Letters. Translated by Deanna Shemek. Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies 516. Tempe, Arizona: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2017.
Tamalio, Raffaele. Ferrante Gonzaga alla corte spagnola di Carlo V: nel carteggio privato con Mantova (1523-1526) : la formazione da “cortegiano” di un generale dell’Impero. Mantova: G. Arcari, 1991.
Tamalio, Raffaele, ed. Federico Gonzaga alla corte di Francesco I di Francia nel carteggio privato con Mantova (1515-1517). Paris: Honoré Champion Éditeur, 1994.
Secondary scholarship
Croizat, Yassana C. “‘Living Dolls’: François Ier Dresses His Women.” Renaissance Quarterly 60, no. 1 (2007): 94–130. https://doi.org/10.1353/ren.2007.0027.
Welch, Evelyn S. Shopping in the Renaissance: Consumer Cultures in Italy 1400-1600. New Haven, [Conn.]; London: Yale University Press, 2005.
Jessica O’Leary