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Art on the edge: hair and hands in Renaissance Italy
Author(s) -
Welch Evelyn
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
renaissance studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.117
H-Index - 16
eISSN - 1477-4658
pISSN - 0269-1213
DOI - 10.1111/j.1477-4658.2008.00531.x
Subject(s) - the renaissance , politics , point (geometry) , period (music) , art , visual arts , sociology , aesthetics , art history , political science , law , geometry , mathematics
This paper argues that items designed for the bodily extremities such as hair‐coverings, hats, fans and other accessories were valued for the ease with which they could be changed and adapted to express a range of different meanings: political, social and individual. They also provided an important point of contact between the world of commerce, the court elites and the wider community of men and women who purchased and used these goods. In studying these often marginalized items, we can explore mechanism for the transmission of concepts of fashion and innovation in the Renaissance period.