I suppose that the other thing we should remember is that back in the
1600's, heating water was a laborious process, so clothing and bodies
were not washed that regularly. Indeed the elizabethans used threads
(like cotton wool, but thicker) in bone holders with holes in (they
looked like needlecases) in their clothing to catch fleas! It was
not considered healthy to be constantly washing! This would also have
made clothing rather yellow and dirty looking. Artists impressions on
old paintings have also yellowed over the years, thanks to smoke, smog
and 19th/20th century life! All of these factors could well give the
wrong impression on actual colours. As Devon says, museum
conservationists could well pick the wrong hue for items. Certainly
blue whitener was not used in England on a commercial basis until the
mid 1800's (In fact, the colour Prussian Blue was introduced to
England by one of Chris's (my OH) ancestors!
Sue in EY
On 10 Apr 2009, at 22:14, dmt11h...@aol.com wrote:
In Aileen Ribiero's book about 17th century fashion, and in other
books
there is reference to one Ann Turner who went to her hanging in
yellow starched
lace. Also, in the Ribiero book, which is in color, allowing one to
see some
familiar portraits for the first time in color, there are several
portraits in
which the lace is really yellow in striking contrast to the lace
that went
before and the lace that came after. In fact, after Ann Turner's
death (she was
involved in a poisoning) the fashion for yellow starched lace ended
rather
abruptly. Some people have told me that there were other colors in
starch,
such as blue, but that museum cleaning practices of painted
portraits have
rendered these tinted laces to white, on the basis of what
subsequent museum
conservators assumed were the correct colors.
It could, of course, be the case that regular starch has yellowed as
Susan
says. I am ignorant about English starching practices. Can anyone
point me to a
source about starching in the early 17th century. I don't even know
what a
regular starch recipe would have consisted of.
Devon
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