^{By ANDREA ROMITO
Published Nov. 30th, 2024; all rights reserved.}

Italy in the 15th century experienced a remarkable flourishing of art and culture. Beauty and elegance were sought after in every area of life, and in this context, dyeing played a fundamental role in the field of costume, allowing for fabrics and clothes in bright colors and refined shades.

Contrary to popular belief, which would like to return the image of a dark and monochrome Middle Ages – an idea too often emphasized and exasperated by cinematographic culture – in this period color assumed an importance that could be defined as paradigmatic, without a doubt much more than it is today.

Examining the myriad of iconographic depictions available is enough to note the wide range of colors that could be displayed: from white to black, passing through reds, yellows, greens, blues of all shades and intensities.

Delving deeper to a further level of investigation and considering the documentary sources, the post-mortem inventories provide substantial confirmation of what is testified by the artistic expressions.

Here follow some quotations excerpted from notarial acts dating back to the end of the 14th c. up to the beginning of the 16th c., kept at the State Archives of Rimini, the city where our association is based [1]:

• una chotta de monaghino (Ed: a women’s summer dress of a dark color, tending towards red); 1393, State Archives of Rimini A/1, Rimini notarial fund, Notary Pietro di Giovanni da Imola, unit 5

• unum par caligarum panni azurini (Ed: a pair of blue wool shoes); 1426, State Archives of Rimini A/1 Rimini notarial fund, Notary Francesco Paponi, unit 11

• un paro calze solade vermeglie (Ed: a pair of vermilion-colored soled hose); 1437, State Archives of Rimini A/1, Rimini notarial fund, Notary Bartolo Venerandi, unit 1

• unum gabanum panni paunazii (Ed: a dark purple wool cloak); 1438, State Archives of Rimini A/1, Rimini notarial fund, Notary Francesco Paponi, unit 22

• una camurra de panne verde cum manighe vermeglie (Ed: a women’s green wool dress with vermilion sleeves); 1462, State Archives of Rimini A/1, Rimini notarial fund, Notary Gaspare di Donato Fagnani, unit 13

• uno giuparello de veluto crimisino (Ed: a crimson velvet doublet); 1475, State Archives of Rimini A/1 Rimini notarial fund, Notary Bartolomeo di Sante, unit 12

• una cappa de seda nera a la veneciana da donna (Ed: a Venetian-style black silk women’s cloak); 1498, State Archives of Rimini A/1, Rimini notarial fund, Notary Nicolino Tabellioni, unit 7

• una beretta rossa… (Ed: a red headgear); 1500, State Archives of Rimini A/1, Rimini notarial fund, Notary Silvio di Gal. Medaschi, unit 5

Having ascertained that the Middle Ages was explicitly a colored world, how was the dyeing process performed in the 15th century? What were the most fashionable colors and what secrets circulated in the dyers’ workshops?

To answer these questions, we must immerse ourselves in indirect sources and specifically analyze the dyeing manuals that have come down to us. Precious examples are the Plichto de larte de tentori and L’Arte della Seta in Firenze, both written by anonymous authors with surprising accuracy in handing down by empirical means the chemical-physical principles underlying the recipes of contemporary dyeing art.

The Plichto was published in Venice by G. Ventura Rosetti in 1540 [2]; as for the second, it seems that the first original manuscript is likely to be placed at the beginning of the 15th century [3]

Although the sources offer the fundamental basis to start a systematic study of the color ranges, a historical reconstructor is called upon to wonder how the colors of the garments worn in their own era of reference actually appeared.

Dealing with the second half of the 15th century, it is necessary to clarify whether it is sufficient or not to rely on paintings and frescoes to reproduce with full knowledge the wardrobe of a hypothetical citizen of Central-Northern Italy, be it noble, bourgeois or commoner.

A first factor should not be overlooked: the pigments used by artists are largely different from those used in the dyeing of fabrics. Whether we are talking about panels or frescoes, their origin was mostly mineral and not vegetable/animal. Furthermore, if on the one hand the color rendering varies from author to author, even setting aside the level of mastery of the individual, on the other hand even the natural decay varies over time, so the color that we observe today in an artwork may well not correspond to the original intent of the author.

On a textile level, the surface onwhich the pigment is applied has a different yield, even with the very same dye bath: the case of cotton fabric is emblematic, as it shows a degree of absorption and yield very different from what is observed in silk and in wool.

The empirical experimentation of the Historical Reconstructor, backing up and completing the iconographic and documentary research, shows its fundamental importance when it uses the same raw materials and the original procedures, according to what is described in the manuals: in the next articles of this series we will go into the details of the tests we have carried out, delving deeper on the pigments used and the techniques of preparation of the fabrics, without neglecting the socio-economic impacts that used to permeate the activity of a medieval dyer, as well as the “color code” that regulated the 15th century costume and so much more…

NOTES:

[1] O. DELUCCA, La casa riminese nel Quattrocento. La casa Cittadina, vol. 2, Stefano Patacconi Editore, Rimini (2006).

[2] G. ROSETTI, Plictho de larte de tentori che insegna tenger pani telle banbasi et sede si per larthe magiore come per la comune, Rampazetto, Venezia (1540)

[3] G. GARGIOLLI (a cura di), L’arte della Seta in Firenze, G. Barbera Editore, Firenze (1868).

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