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Writer's pictureGerriann Brower

The Well-Dressed Duke: Renaissance Menswear

Updated: Oct 8

How do you convey power and confidence? As a Renaissance duke, clothing, armor, swords, and poise would work. Add some gloves with a velvet doublet to convey a refined image. A decorated sword and prominent codpiece would complete the picture. Portraits of princely males served three potential purposes: to enhance the family’s position and power, to create a likeness of the person, and to fashion or maintain an image suitable to his status. Portraits were part propaganda, and clothing was worth a thousand words. Take a tour of a noble’s clothing to see how attire adorned the courtly body, from his humble underwear, to the jeweled sleeves, infamous codpiece, weapons, and armor.


Menswear was regional, bespoke, and curated. What was worn in Florence was not the same as Venice. Milan and Naples had their own fashion preferences. Besides customs, there were rules about wearing luxury items, which were impractical to enforce. For example, in Venice anyone below the social level of senator was prohibited from wearing silk. Sumptuary laws designed to stem the ostentatious display of textiles, bold colors, or jewels were easy to create but difficult to implement. Generally, it did not stop men and women from dressing to impress. It was essential to include the finest clothing and accessories in a portrait.


Menswear took on special significance as males were very visible in society and in their environs. They were seen about town doing business, in church, chatting in the piazza, at the tavern, or attending a meeting. Women were essentially cloistered in their homes, leaving home for church, special occasions, and only when accompanied by servants or a male chaperon. A man had his family name to uphold, and to do so he wore the right attire.


Men all had the same humble undergarments, consisting of boxer type shorts and large smock-like long shirt. These were made of linen, or silk if he was wealthy. Cotton was rarely used for clothing at this time in Italy. Undergarments were very simple, and importantly, washable. Linen, wool, and silk comprised most of the textiles used for children, men, and women. Over the shirt, a doublet, like a short sleeveless jacket or vest, was worn. Doublets were padded and quilted to give the desired effect of a well-proportioned and fit man. Sleeves were added later and tied to the doublet.


Tights covered the legs. Fifteenth century high fashion called for different colors on each leg, striped in different colors or slashed. Slashing created multiple small cuts in the fabric, to reveal a different color underneath. Doublets and sleeves were frequently slashed. Tights were laced and tied onto the doublet hem. Lacing through eyelets and buttons were the most common way to assemble layers of clothing since there were no zippers at this time. Tights were not knitted, instead made of linen on the inside and wool on the outside. Hosiery showed off well-shaped legs, muscular calves, and overall cut an attractive figure. All men had the basic combinations of undershirt, underpants, doublet and hose.


With undergarments, tights, and doublet in place, that brings us to the codpiece, initially designed for modesty and to cover the private parts. With a short doublet ending at the waist, the genital bulge in the tights would be visible and considered improper. Laced to the hem of the doublet, the codpiece initially was only a simple flap of material. Eventually the codpiece became purely decorative, and instead of a simple piece of fabric, served as an important fashion symbol. Codpieces grew in popularity and size as an eye-catching symbol of virility. No expense was spared on codpieces, named so after the slang word for scrotum. To clarify, the penis and scrotum were snugly put in place in the tights, not in the codpiece, although some historians claim otherwise.


Domenico Ghirlandaio, A Legend of Saints Justus and Clement of Volterra, detail, c. 1479, National Gallery, London, open access.
Domenico Ghirlandaio, A Legend of Saints Justus and Clement of Volterra, detail, c. 1479, National Gallery, London, open access.

This detail of a fifteenth century painting shows four youths receiving bread from two saints during a siege of their Tuscan city. Menswear in Tuscan fifteenth century fashion is colorfully rendered here. Note the different styles of tights, variety in doublets, and overall bright colors of clothing. The codpiece here is a simpler pouch of fabric before it became a fashion piece. Their shoes are simple leather. Three carry swords at their sides. These young men may not be nobility, but more average citizens.


Agnolo Bronzino, Portrait of Guidobaldo II della Rovere, 1530s, Palazzo Pitti, Florence, Wikimedia Commons, open access.
Agnolo Bronzino, Portrait of Guidobaldo II della Rovere, 1530s, Palazzo Pitti, Florence, Wikimedia Commons, open access.

A well-dressed duke could afford a codpiece brocaded with silver or gold thread. Duke Guidobaldo II della Rovere has opted for a large bright red codpiece and tights which contrasts with the armor in color and texture. The tights and codpiece are embellished with a gold threaded design. His favorite canine, a sign of loyalty, is included in the portrait as the duke rests his hand lightly on his neck. The codpiece and the dog become the focal point of the painting, by their prominent placement and red and white colors against the dark background. Guidobaldo was Duke of Urbino, and as a member of the influential Rovere family, he was related to Giuliano della Rovere, who became Pope Julius II. Julius commissioned Michelangelo to paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Guidobaldo was a powerful duke, known for his patronage of the arts and harsh treatment of opponents. His portrait is the epitome of ducal masculinity.



Paolo Veronese, Boy with a Greyhound, 1570s, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, open access.
Paolo Veronese, Boy with a Greyhound, 1570s, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, open access.

Fashion changes, and soon tights alone covering the legs were out of style. Men added breeches later in the sixteenth century. Breeches are like shorts or shortened pants. Eventually breeches took on their own fashion statement. They became wider, were stuffed, and were known as balloon breeches. These voluminous pillowed breeches ended above the knee to reveal the lower leg clad in tights. They put the stuffed codpiece out of style since the puffy breeches diminished the visual effect of the codpiece. The height of the codpiece fashion peaked mid sixteenth century, then went out of style. Veronese painted a young lad with his white greyhound. He wears balloon breeches with a gold threaded design, puffed out at the sides, with a gilded codpiece. Sporting green tights, his gold striped doublet and sleeves match his arrogant demeanor.


About the time the codpiece diminished in size, a jerkin was added over the doublet. Jerkins and slashed clothing originated with military wear and hunting. Jerkins made of leather served to protect the body when not wearing armor. As men took on wearing jerkins for fashion, they were made of velvet. Slashing the jerkin fabric to reveal a different color underneath also came from street fighting. In fighting, if your clothing was slashed, you were nicked with a sword or dagger and survived. Wearing slashed clothing became a stylish sign of masculinity.


Men did not go bare sleeved. Sleeves were laced onto the doublet and were removable and interchangeable. Expensive and elaborate sleeves were an essential fashion piece worn over the long linen shirt. They were often adorned with pearls, rubies, and other gems. The Milanese Sforza men wore embellished sleeves worth thousands of ducats. Duke Ludovico Sforza’s sleeves cost an estimated 50,000 ducats while his brother Galeazzo Maria wore sleeves with over 3,000 pearls and forty rubies. Keep in mind these would glisten and reflect light during the day and at night when the room was lit with torches and candles, creating a luminous effect and drawing attention to the noblemen. Shine and reflection with metallic threads, gems, and jewels were an important part of men’s and women’s fashion statements.


Later in the sixteenth century a lace ruff was popular at the wrists and neck. Veronese’s boy with the dog has a lace ruff at the neck and wrists. These were detachable and washable as were the linen under garments. The breeches, laced on sleeves, doublets or jerkins were not washable. Courtly men spent much more on brocaded fabric, embellished swords, gloves, belts, jeweled accessories than frescoes or paintings. Art work would only be seen in the home or church; clothing would be seen every day by peers, friends, and adversaries. The saying “clothes make the man” rang true even in the Renaissance. The right clothes created a demeanor of sprezzatura, a man who looks cool, nonchalant, and as if little effort is needed to attain success. Sprezzatura signaled masculine confidence, evident in the portraits of Guidobaldo and the boy with the greyhound.


Many portraitists emphasized the hands of the male sitter. Rings with gems and jewels would bring attention to the hands, which in portraiture is often placed on a sword. Swords and daggers were signs of high status. Carrying a sword indicated freedom and honor. Attending fencing schools were a necessary part of a gentleman’s education. Not all males were allowed or licensed to carry a weapon. Streets in large cities and in the countryside were dangerous. With only torchlight at night, it was not advised to leave one’s home without body guards or protection. Violence was a part of everyday life.


Dukes could choose to include in their portraits many types of weapons: a long-pointed spada sword, a double-edged rapier, a curved bladed falchion, or a broad sword. Most also carried a short dagger with a blade of about twelve inches. Known as a parrying dagger, it is used to block the impact of the opponents’ blade. A defensive move, parrying deflects the blade away from striking the body. Used along with a rapier, the parrying dagger had a hand guard and was made to allow for a firm grip. Parrying daggers have a notched blade to aid in blocking the force of the opponent’s sword.


Cup-Hilted Rapier and Matching Parrying Dagger, c. 1650, Naples, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, open access.
Cup-Hilted Rapier and Matching Parrying Dagger, c. 1650, Naples, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, open access.

Nobility had elaborately decorated hilts and handguards custom made for their weapons. The rapier and parrying dagger shown here is made of steel and iron. The rapier weighs about three pounds and has a forty-inch blade. Instead of a dagger men could opt to hold a buckler, a small shield. Portraits usually show the man with his hand casually resting on the hilt, to bring attention to the weapon. Veronese’s Boy with a Greyhound and Bronzino’s Portrait of Guidobaldo II della Rovere both depict the rapier at their side while Guidobaldo also has a parrying dagger on his right side.


Outerwear consisted of a cloak, sometimes long or short. Cloaks required a lot of fabric. Yards of silk velvet was costly and the dimensions of a long cloak or cape would indicate that the owner was well to do. As with women’s clothing, the more fabric needed to make a garment equated with wealth. Many cloaks were lined in fur or trimmed with fur, another luxury item. Lynx was one of the most expensive furs, sourced in Russia. Red fur from the weasel-like marten was a more economical choice. Squirrel, fox, and dormouse were also used for lining, which was removable in warm weather.


Noblemen were often called upon to defend their city and territory. Armor was required to survive skirmishes, uprisings, and warfare, which were routine in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The well-dressed duke had armor for different occasions. Armor came in a variety of decorative and functional styles. Specific armor was fashioned for calvary, infantry, as well as ceremonial armor worn for parades, tournaments, and special occasions. Armor was fairly common, not only for nobility but also for some merchants or middle-class men. Nobility could afford the best fitted armor, made in Northern Italy or Germany. Italy and Germany were well-known for making the best plate armor, consisting of pieces of steel latched together to allow the man to move and yielded the best body protection.



Agnolo Bronzino, Portrait of Stefano IV Colonna, 1546, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica in Palazzo Barberini, Rome, photo Gerriann Brower.
Agnolo Bronzino, Portrait of Stefano IV Colonna, 1546, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica in Palazzo Barberini, Rome, photo Gerriann Brower.

Bronzino captures the essence of the armored nobleman in his portrait of Stefano IV Colonna. Stefano was a member of the powerful Roman noble Colonna family. He was a mercenary for hire and worked for Francis I, King of France, Pope Clement VII, and Charles V Holy Roman Emperor. In his later years he served Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici to wage war in his name and for protection of Florence and Tuscan territories. Painted as a funerary portrait, one hand rests on his rapier with the other on his helmet. The dark armor is embellished with gold threads hammered into grooves cut into the steel. The armor shines as he turns away from the viewer with a stern expression. A close look at the armor shows the rivets and connecting parts of the armor.

Stefano’s armor also includes a prominent armored codpiece.


The painter included a column in the background to draw attention to the Colonna family symbol. In Italian column is colonna. Columns are a symbol of strength and resilience. There is a gold hammered column at the topmost part of the breastplate. Bronzino painted Stefano’s name and date on the base of the column. The frame of the painting continues references to Colonna’s profession with reliefs of swords and armor around the edges of the frame.


Field tempered steel body armor weighed about fifty pounds. Plate armor custom made for each limb and body part was secured by metal rivets and leather straps, allowing for the person to move about, launch a weapon, walk, or ride a horse. Milan had the most skilled metal workers making armor in the fifteenth century. Milanese armor was heralded as the highest quality along with German armorers.


Armor in itself is a work of art. Dukes, princes, and emperors had multiple sets of armor. The nature of the construction meant plates were interchangeable or could be replaced if damaged. How did a man put on armor? A padded arming doublet cushioned the body against the steel and served as a means to tie the armor to the doublet. Starting with the legs, upper body and arms, men would don the armor, ending with the helmet and gauntlets (gloves).


Elements of an Italian Light-Calvary Armor in the German Fashion, c. 1510, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, open access.
Elements of an Italian Light-Cavalry Armor in the German Fashion, c. 1510, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, open access.

This light-cavalry armor made in Milan shows the decorative nature possible with mixed media metals. Made of steel, gold, copper alloy, with leather straps and belt, this armor weighs nearly twenty pounds. The style is German inspired with a skilled design and high level of craftsmanship. Across the breastplate are three religious scenes: the Virgin and Child, Saint Paul, and Saint George. The Trinity is depicted above the breastplate on the gilt collar. Latin inscriptions are found on the breastplate and backplate, suggesting sacred protection for the wearer in battle. He would appear formidable in battle together with his helmet, leg pieces, and sword.


Sources

Breiding, Dirk H. “The Function of Armor in Medieval and Renaissance Europe.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2002.


Bridgeman, Jane. “From Cardinals to Courtesans: Dress as Image in Italian Renaissance Painting.” The Frick Collection, Video, September 11, 2019, New York City.


Duits, Rembrandt. “Figured Riches: The Value of Gold Brocades in Fifteenth-Century Florentine Painting.” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, vol. 62, 1999, pp. 60–92.

 

Frick, Carole Collier. Dressing Renaissance Florence: Families, Fortunes, and Fine Clothing. The John Hopkins University Press, 2002.

 

McCall, Timothy. “Brilliant Bodies: Material Culture and the Adornment of Men in North Italy’s Quattrocento Courts.” I Tatti Studies in the Italian Renaissance, vol. 16, no. 1/2, 2013, pp. 445–90.

 

McCall, Timothy. “Materials for Renaissance Fashion.” Renaissance Quarterly, vol. 70, no. 4, 2017, pp. 1449–64.

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