*The Renaissance: The historic period in Europe starting in the 1300s in Italy and spreading north during the next 3 centuries. In England, it hit its hayday during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I in the second half of the 1500s. It was characterized by a resurgence of interest in Roman Classicism and Classical Greek and Roman writings.
Jewelry and dress was extremely opulent for those who could afford it.
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| Françoise Brézé- Duchesse de Bouillon
by François Clouet (French, approx. 1510-1572)
1550, oil on wood, private collection.
A strand of pearls loops around her back and terminates near the corners of her bodice.
Over this is an impressive collar composed of groups of 8 pearls set in two rows of 4 alternating with the letter “F” for Françoise.
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A Young Lady, oil on panel
c.1535, French
by Corneille de Lyon, (Dutch practicing in France approx. 1500-1575)
The Hermitage, St. Petersburg
This young lady wears 2 separate pieces of jewelry around her neck. A beaded strand with a regular pattern runs horizontally from shoulder to shoulder. It appears to be made of alternating clusters of pearls or other beads and sizeable gold-colored round beads.
She also has a gold chain running behind her neck and plunging into or perhaps stopping at the corners of her bodice. What might appear to be a third piece of jewelry is actually the edges of her very fine partlet; the artist shows fine lines at the round neckline and then two fine lines running down the middle showing the edges of each side of the partlet. |
| Portrait of Lucrezia Panciatichi
by Angelo Bronzino
1540, Italian
Oil on wood
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
Commissioned by her husband, Bartolomeo Panciatichi.
Around her neck, she wears a simple pearl strand with a pendant with a portrait of her husband.
Away from her neck, she wears a gold chain that dips just below her bodice.
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