Giuseppe Arcimboldo, Fire, 1566; 66.5 x 51 cm. Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien. MINNEAPOLIS, MN.- In 2015, a major American collaboration will bring masterworks amassed by one of the longest-reigning European dynasties to the United States. "Habsburg...

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The problem I'm interested in is how can we avoid victimizing ourselves, individually and collectively? Is there any withstanding possible? And if yes, why don't women enterprise anything against the violence because their situation is more than serious - the gender violence is the reason why women die between the age of 15 and 45, every 15 minutes on the planet there is an aggressive action against a woman.

Rembrandt at Rembrandthuis, Amsterdam. The woman in the painting wears the simple attire usually worn by a maid in the 17th century, so it is unlikely that it is a formal portrait. Rembrandt may have painted a woman who worked in his house. The painting was not acknowledged as an authentic work by Rembrandt until a few years ago, when the overpainting covering large parts of the painting was removed during a major restoration.

Lucy Hay, Countess of Carlisle, née Percy (1599 - November 5, 1660), English courtier known for her beauty and wit. Her charms were celebrated in verse by contemporary poets, including Thomas Carew, William Cartwright, Robert Herrick, and Sir John Suckling. She was later involved in many conspiracies and political intrigues during the English Civil War. She was the second daughter of Henry Percy, 9th earl of Northumberland, and his wife Dorothy Devereux. In 1617, she married James Hay (he would become Earl of Carlisle five years later) as his second wife, and became a conspicuous figure at the court of Charles I. After the death of her husband in 1636, she was rumored to have been, successively, the mistress of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, and then John Pym, his parliamentary opponent. Strafford valued her highly, but after his death, possibly as a result of her anger and disillusionment at his fall and execution, she devoted herself to Pym and gave herself to the interests of the parliamentary leaders, to whom she communicated the king's most secret plans and counsels. However, it appears she served both parties simultaneously, betraying communications on both sides, and doing considerable mischief by inflaming political animosities. In 1647 she attached herself to more moderate factions, but by the next year, with second phase of the Civil War, she was again demonstrating great zeal for the royal cause, raising funds for Royalist troops, and making herself intermediary between scattered bands of Royalists and the queen. In consequence, in March 1649, two months after Charles I's execution, her arrest was ordered and she was imprisoned in the Tower. Even in prison, she continued her intrigues, corresponding in cipher with the future Charles II. Royalist reports made out that she was threatened with the rack in order to extort information. She was released in September of the following year, but appears never to have regained her influence, and died ten years later, soon after the Restoration.

Contemporary Events The Protestant Reformation had ended. In many areas Protestantism was firmly established and found a way to more or less co-exist with Catholics. France and Spain are the major Roman Catholic powers. Britain, northern Germany, Scandanavia, and Holland... Continue Reading →

Jean-Etienne Liotard (Swiss-French artist, 1702-1789) The Chocolate Girl 1743 Food historian Patricia Bixler Reber tells us in her blog Researching Food History - Cooking and Dining, that chocolate is made from the seeds of the cacao tree. Seed pods were picked, opened, & fermented for a few days, as they dried. In the 18th-century, the beans were roasted in a pan, pot, or roaster on the hearth. The shells were removed leaving the usable chocolate "nibs." The nibs were ground down into a paste by using a stone or steel metate & mano or in a choclate mill. Further grinding, conching, resulted in a smooth texture. Jean-Etienne Liotard (Swiss artist, 1702-1789) Madame Liotard and her Daughter Marylander Pat Reber shared 2 primary sources from the 1700s explaining chocolate preparation. "The Cacao...a Seed...when they have been divested of their Shells by Fire, and are afterwards peeled, and roasted in a Bason, before a moderate Fire, they are pounded in a very hot Mortar. The Americans bruise them with an Iron Cylinder, on a flat Stone made very hot; they are then formed into a Paste, which is afterwards boiled with Sugar; and this is called plain Chocolate. But if it is to be enriched with a fine Odour, four Pounds of this Paste, and three of powdered Sugar, are worked together in a Mortar, or on some Stone..." (Spectacle de la Nature. Noël Antoine Pluche. 1766) Jean-Etienne Liotard (Swiss artist, 1702-1789) Le Petit Déjeuner "The Cacao seeds are roasted like coffee...When the kernels are perfectly purified, they are pounded in a mortar of heated iron over burning charcoal, and thus reduced to a coarse paste, which is set to cool on a marble slab. A second rolling is bestowed with a steel cylinder on a smooth freestone, and as soon as the paste becomes sufficiently smooth, it is mixed with sugar in a hot basin and poured into tin moulds..." (The Encyclopædia of Geography, Hugh Murray. Phila: 1837) Jean-Etienne Liotard (Swiss-French artist, 1702-1789) La Chocolatiere c 1744 Jean-Etienne Liotard (Swiss-French artist, 1702-1789) La Chocolatiere

Y acabamos este repaso a las sayas con aquellas que lucieron las mujeres de la nobleza y las mujeres de Corte. Saya francesa: por los años 90 del siglo XV aparece un traje muy ceñido al cuerpo, rico en tela y adornos, sin costuras en la cintura, pero que se ciñe un poco por encima de la misma, mientras que las caderas quedan algo abultadas por el vuelo de la "falda". La boca de las mangas es muy ancha. Se llevaba con cinta de caderas, que se colocaba muy baja, cayendo en arco por delante. Sobre ella no era necesario llevar otra prenda. Se solía bordear los puños y el escote con piel. 1509. La Piedad, Juan de Flandes, colección particular (detalle) A mediados del siglo XVI, la saya lujosa de toda la vida se divide en dos piezas: el cuerpo y la falda propiamente dicha que llevaba cola. Es una prenda típica española. El cuerpo se ajusta mucho al torso (se empieza a usar el cartón de pecho) y termina por delante en forma de pico (faldilla). La prenda podía ser cerrada o abierta; las abiertas se cerraban por medio de agujetas o puntas (pieza de metal) por la zona frontal. La falda iba acampanada desde la cintura por llevar el verdugado debajo, que perduró hasta el mismo reinado de Felipe IV. Las mangas eran dobles: una que estaba abierta y por donde se sacaba el brazo, quedando por lo tanto la manga colgada desde el hombro (de moda hasta los años 30 del siglo XVII). Y la otra manga llamada “manguilla” que cubría el brazo. Podía ser de la misma tela que el resto de la prenda o distinta. Tanto las manguillas como algunas zonas de la saya se acuchillaban dejando ver el forro. Se le llamó saya entera o saya grande. Saya entera con mangas cerradas con puntas. Falda también con puntas. La dama del joyel, Antonio Moro, H. 1552, Museo del Prado, Madrid (detalle) Saya entera con agujetas o puntas y pasamanería en el delantero (a modo de adorno), con cola muy larga llamada también «falda» y que se añadía a la prenda. Mangas redondas que era las más comunes. Felipe II y sus hijos mostrándole los trajes de la boda de la Infanta Catalina, 1583-85, anónimo, The Hispanic Society of America, Nueva York (detalle) Cuando la prenda era escotada recibió el nombre de saya baja. Se colocaba una gorguera para cubrir el escote y el cuello. Saya baja. Mangas redondas cerradas con puntas. Gorguera alta con una pequeña lechuguilla. María de Austria, 1551, Antonio Moro, Museo del Prado, Madrid (detalle) Cuando no era escotada se llamó saya de cuerpo alto. La infanta Isabel Clara Eugenia, Alonso Sánchez Coello, 1579, Museo del Prado, Madrid (detalle) Veamos un ejemplo de cada una de las mangas. 1. Manga redonda: tenía un corte por el medio, a la altura del codo, por donde se sacaba el brazo. Fue la más usada a inicios del siglo XVII. Margarita de Austria, Bartolomé González, 1609, Museo del Prado, Madrid (detalle) 2. Manga de punta: tenía un corte longitudinal, uniéndose esos cortes en el antebrazo con puntas. El brazo era sacado por la boca y la manga quedaba como una capa o “sobremanga” por detrás. Infanta Isabel Clara Eugenia y Magdalena Ruiz, Alonso Sánchez Coello, 1585-88, Museo del Prado, Madrid (detalle) Las prendas colocadas bajo las sayas con el objetivo de ahuecarlas se fueron sucediendo, desde el verdugado, pasando por el guardainfante que empleaba un artilugio de mimbre, hasta el sacristán en el que unos aros ovales ampliaban la falda lateralmente. Los cuerpos seguían aplastando el pecho como ya se hacía en el XVI y los escotes de barca tendieron a exagerarse. Mariana de Austria, reina de España, Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez, h. 1652, Museo del Prado, Madrid (detalle) Veamos más imágenes de sayas enteras: Infanta Isabel Clara Eugenia, Juan Pantoja de la Cruz, 1598-599, Museo del Prado, Madrid Mangas de punta, la de la izquierda el brazo sale por la segunda abertura y tiene los bordes dados la vuelta y la de la derecha el brazo sale por la primera abertura. Valona decorada con randas montada en un alzacuello.1604. La infanta Ana de Austria, Juan Pantoja de la Cruz, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Viena (detalle) (imagen obtenida aquí) Falda de la saya con el verdugado debajo muy acampanado con lo que la base es muy ancha asemejando a una alcuza. A partir de los años sesenta a la falda se le hace un doblez o "alforza" cerca del borde inferior para que no arrastre. Isabel de Borbón, futura reina de España, Rodrigo de Villandrado, h. 1620, Museo del Prado, Madrid No confundir la saya entera con la saboyana ni con el vestido formado por el jubón y la vasquiña que aunque similar visualmente a la saya este conjunto debía ir con otra prenda encima. Más imágenes de sayas en FACEBOOK Imágenes de telas en FACEBOOK Entradas de interés en este blog: LA SAYA (I) de HOMBRE LA SAYA (II) de MUJER LA SAYA (III) de MUJER Bibliografía: Bernis Madrazo, Carmen: La moda en la España de Felipe II a través del retrato de corte. En el catálogo de la exposición Alonso Sánchez Coello y el retrato en la corte de Felipe II. Madrid: Museo del Prado. Bernis Madrazo, Carmen: El traje y los tipos sociales en el Quijote. Madrid: Visor, 2001. Bernis, Carmen: Indumentaria española en tiempos de Carlos V. Madrid: Instituto Diego Velázquez (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, CSIC), 1962. Soláns Soteras, María Concepción: La moda en la sociedad aragonesa del siglo XVI. Institución “Fernando el Católico” (C.S.I.C.). Colección Estudios. Zaragoza. 2009. Sousa Congosto, Francisco de: Introducción a la historia de la indumentaria en España. Ed. Istmo, 2007.

King Charles I Costume – 1625-1649 by Dion Clayton Calthrop By Pauline Weston Thomas for Fashion-Era.com King Charles I Costume – 1625-1649 English Costume History by Dion Clayton Calthrop A MAN OF THE TIME OF CHARLES I -1625-1649 A WOMAN OF THE TIME OF CHARLES I – 1625-1649 ENGRAVINGS BY HOLLAR This late Jacobean costume …

Double portraits of a husband and wife from middle-class families, not just the aristocracy, were more popular in the Dutch Republic than elsewhere in Europe, in part because of the higher status of women. Such portraits, commissioned for the home, honored family members by preserving their likenesses and reflecting their social positions through attire-here, elegant but conservative costumes of silk and lace complemented by pearls from the East Indies. Their body language suggests their respective roles. The man's hand on his hip with elbow out expresses his assertive, protective role towards his wife. Hendrik was the son of the famous artist Abraham Bloemaert. The father did no portraits, thinking it no challenge to copy what was in front of him, but Hendrik was known for his portraits as well as for religious and peasant subjects.