I know I’m not the only one who has come across an interesting bit of information while doing research. And even if you would love to dig deeper into this new topic, it’s just not related to your current research enough to make it worth diving down that rabbit hole. So instead, I thought I’d share what I found here, and maybe someone else can find it useful, or already knows more about it!
My dissertation research includes the study of material cultures and sumptuary laws from sixteenth century Europe. Sumptuary laws were created to control not only the spending of money on material and luxury goods, they were also designed to control the degree to which men, but mostly women, could dress in sumptuous fabrics, jewels, and other adornments. Sumptuary laws existed all over Renaissance Europe but varied between cities and countries. The punishment was usually a fine, though it could also involve being confined to a cell, however the consequences were rarely a large deterrent for those who wished to display their wealth.
That is a basic definition of sumptuary laws. But they were constantly being updated and they could be very subjective making them difficult to pin down for research purposes. Some were straightforward, such as how many strands of pearls a woman was allowed to wear – this could also depend on her social status and whether she was married or not – but if no specific definition of a party displaying an excess of wealth is given, how was one supposed to know if their party was too lavish or not?
That question does sound kind of funny, but wealth and its display could have a more positive role, making these sumptuary laws seem even more confusing. Using one’s wealth in the Renaissance to purchase or commission religious art was a way of displaying a family’s piety. The more money you spent on a chapel or an altarpiece, or on religious objects for your home, the more pious you were seen to be. In sixteenth-century Venice (the area I’m focusing on for my dissertation) the display of wealth could also serve a civic function. If notable dignitaries were coming to the city, wealthy and noble families were expected to show up in all their finery and to throw feasts and parties that would have cost not an insignificant amount of money. But these instances were to show off the success of Venice and her maritime empire, so they were acceptable. But if you wanted to throw a private party? You better watch how you decorate the room and, apparently, how many women you invite…
Throughout all of my research into sumptuary laws, I had never come across this particular aspect before. I found it in the first chapter of the edited book The Material Renaissance. A wool merchant named Vincenzo Zuccato had thrown a party to celebrate the birth of a child (I’m assuming the child was his, although it is not specified). The objections brought before the sumptuary magistrates included “objections being made both to the number of women thought to have attended and to the sumptuous appearance of the room in which they were supposedly received” (Allerston, 26). He refuted these allegations by stating that he had not gone beyond his monetary means or his station (the social structure of Renaissance Venice is another topic that is also deep, was constantly shifting, and can be difficult to grasp). What I found most interesting about this story is that the number of women was supposedly one of the ways he had broken sumptuary laws. Wouldn’t it make sense for a higher number of women to be present at an event celebrating the birth of a child? I have not come across any legislation stating that the number of women at an event must not exceed X, but given that the topic of sumptuary laws in Venice alone could take up an entire dissertation, I’m not surprised I haven’t come across it yet. This story becomes even more confusing when we look at other banquets and feasts from sixteenth century Venice. If Zuccato’s feast had been a public affair – to welcome some foreign dignitary or important merchant – then the display of such luxurious items and the number of women present would have been acceptable as it would have been in the service of the Venetian Republic.
The second story I wanted to share features a total badass by the name of Pasquetta. Pasquetta was a sex worker in sixteenth-century Venice, based on the story I’m guessing she was well-known and at the courtesan level. She was called before the sumptuary magistrates for wearing jewels and semi-precious stones that women were prohibited from wearing as well as gold necklaces and clothing trimmed with gold. I’m imagining her completely unfazed, perhaps with a slight smirk on her face, as she defended herself against the charges by basically giving the sixteenth-century equivalent of ‘I can do what I want’. Not only did she say that she was, in fact, allowed to wear these items, she showed up to her trial wearing all of the items listed in the original offence, plus more! (Like I said, a total badass). She was fined 150 ducats and sentenced to “six months in a windowless prison” (Allerston, 26). However, the French ambassador to Venice appealed the sentence on her behalf. Not only was Pasquetta right when she said she was allowed to wear what she wanted, but this story, and the first one, highlight just how problematic and ambiguous, not to mention political, these sumptuary laws could be. They were supposedly created on moral grounds, and yet they were often used as a means of attempting to control class and gender lines or to further the Venetian myth of a perfect, cooperative Republic.
If anyone knows more about these stories, or just wants to have a chat about the fascinating world of Renaissance sumptuary laws, feel free to comment below!
Sources:
Allerston, Patricia. “Consuming problems: worldly goods in Renaissance Venice” in The Material Renaissance, eds. Michelle O’Malley and Evelyn Welch. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2007.
Brown, Patricia Fortini. Private Lives in Renaissance Venice: Art, Architecture, and the Family. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004.
The Rogue Art Historian 