The beauty of Lucrezia Panciatichi is frozen

The Renaissance is a historical period and cultural movement in Europe that started from the 14th to 17th centuries. The term Renaissance is a French word that means "rebirth". The Renaissance started in Italy and spread throughout Europe. While the period included great leaps in intellectual, educational and socio-political pursuits the period is probably best known for the artists and great thinkers of the time.

Clothing played a large role in Renaissance society, as clothing in the Renaissance was all about defining and showing off one's social status. Italian fashion heavily influenced the rest of Europe in the period. Clothing was one of the main ways that the wealthy displayed their wealth to the world, and so it was the wealthy that set the fashions and trends that were to be followed. Because of the great difference in wealth and class in Renaissance Europe, there are several different fashions, ranging from what the wealthiest would wear to what peasants might wear. Because of the ever-changing times of the Renaissance, fashions also changed more rapidly in this era than in eras before it.

The wealthy displayed their wealth by wearing expensive fabrics such as silk, brocade, velvet, and cotton (Cotton was at this time in history kind of hard to come by in and was thus a 'wealthy' fabric). Furs were also popular among those who could afford them, and oftentimes furs were used by the wealthy as lining on the inside of their garments. Darker colours were the fashion as elaborate embroidery and jewels were often sewn into the fabrics, and dark colours were able to show those features off more. For the wealthy, the style was much more important than function.

In the sixteenth century, the costume was particularly nice and luxurious. Laces, embroideries in relief, rich and thick materials, and jewellery, all of those parts of costume contributed at the same aim: amplifying the beauty of the people who wore them. The fashion of black clothes came from Spain but ladies often wore some colours more pleasant like green, blue or dark red.

Lucrezia di Sigismondo Pucci was the wife of Bartolomeo Panciatichi, a Florentine humanist and politician. The lady was painted by the Italian artist Agnolo di Cosimo, known as Bronzino, finished around 1540. It is housed in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy. The show of refined garments and jewellery was intended not only to underline the élite position of the woman but also aspects of her personality through a complex symbology.

The portrait of Lucrezia is one of the icons of sixteenth-century portraiture. Vasari praised the portraits of the Panciatichi spouses, saying that they are "so natural that they seem truly alive, and that they are not lacking in them but the spirit".

The absence of a background is a device of estrangement that Bronzino uses to make his sitters almost too beautiful as if they were jewels set off on a bed of velvet.

The lady, with an ivory complexion, the charming look, the elegant neck: long, white, set off by the cool modelling and deep shadows of her face, her neck adorned with jewellery studded of pearl in the middle of it precious pendant gives an aesthetic touch to her neck, she seated on a slightly three-quarters wooden seat; on the left hand resting on the carved armrest the wedding ring stands out, while the right hand with her long fingers is resting on an open prayer book, from which it is possible to read a few lines.

She wears a sumptuous shiny red dress with low and square necklines from luxurious woven fabrics made of golden silk in a pattern drawings, were filled in by a partlet for drawing attention to a very wonderful skin, above the necklines and part of the red dress precious jewels confirm not only the fact that the girl belongs to a high social class but also tell us about some aspects of her personality, through the symbolism of the gems, engraved in black enamel on the wide chain of gold, as Bronzino renders every nuance of colour in her dress.

The skirt is gathered from the waistline with form in deep pleats at front, back and sides to add a symbol of beauty which Bronzino highlighted it with lights and shadows which is adorned from the waistline with a belt with precious black stones mounted in gold.

The sleeves have a finely curled puff of fabric and end with removable, removable sleeves attached to the lace dress with a darker colour decorated with some of the golden flowers to add a symbol of beauty.

All of this colours and design had been shown in a precious and luxurious dress which we can say it is a magical dress obtained in an incredible shiny red colour, made especially for Lucrezia to be one of the icons of sixteenth-century portraiture. Lucrezia wanted to confirm to us that she belongs to a high social class while telling us some aspects of her personality as shown in that sumptuous red dress with a magnificent portrait.

Overall, Renaissance fashions were characterized by a new scale of opulence and extravagance never quite reached in the middle ages. Jewels, pearls, gold, lace, and techniques such as slashing and puffing were used unscrupulously. Jewellery became very important during this time period to denote wealth and position. Fashions truly reflected the love of art, discovery, and new inventions that defined the Renaissance.

Now, we can see how these realities were translated into a fashion context.