I would guess that this is either an entirely Victorian construction
or a Victorian redrawing of someone's posthumous portrait of Mary I
(if it's not misidentified from the beginning). The style of the
sleeves is certainly later than Mary and Holbein, but the whole thing
is unconvincing to me as a 16th-century construction.
I can find a couple of examples near this extreme sleeve shape from
the 1560s and early 70s. Some of Mor's work comes close, such as:
http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/images/aria/sk/z/sk-a-3119.z?leftcoulisse
and there's the Christina of Denmark:
http://tinyurl.com/co9r4m
(Maybe that's what you were remembering, Kimiko? You have it on your
site as well.)
The sleeve isn't quite right, but overall the best match I can find
is this:
http://www.faucet.net/costume/1560swoman.html
Unfortunately, I don't have any attribution for it--anyone recognize it?
Back to the image at hand: the partlet is bizarre, especially
coupled with those undersleeves. In addition, that style of
headdress generally comes in plain white. Hers looks more like some
of the decorated cauls from the 1560s, like the one in the third
picture. I also wonder what the decor at center front of the
forepart is meant to be. It doesn't look like any sort of trim or
embroidery or couching I've ever seen in the 16th. Other details are
just far enough off that this whole thing looks like a pastiche or a
misinterpreted redrawing to me.
Melanie Schuessler
_______________________________________________
h-costume mailing list
h-costume@mail.indra.com
http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
