Fur Dress, Art, and Class Identity in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century England and Holland by Elizabeth Mcfadden a Dissertatio
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Fur Dress, Art, and Class Identity in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century England and Holland By Elizabeth McFadden A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History of Art and the Designated Emphasis in Dutch Studies in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Elizabeth Honig, Chair Professor Todd Olson Professor Margaretta Lovell Professor Jeroen Dewulf Fall 2019 Abstract Fur Dress, Art, and Class Identity in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century England and Holland by Elizabeth McFadden Doctor of Philosophy in History of Art Designated Emphasis in Dutch Studies University of California, Berkeley Professor Elizabeth Honig, Chair My dissertation examines painted representations of fur clothing in early modern England and the Netherlands. Looking at portraits of elites and urban professionals from 1509 to 1670, I argue that fur dress played a fundamentally important role in actively remaking the image of middle- class and noble subjects. While demonstrating that fur was important to establishing male authority in court culture, my project shows that, by the late sixteenth century, the iconographic status and fashionability of fur garments were changing, rendering furs less central to elite displays of magnificence and more apt to bourgeois demonstrations of virtue and gravitas. This project explores the changing meanings of fur dress as it moved over the bodies of different social groups, male and female, European and non-European. My project deploys methods from several disciplines to discuss how fur’s shifting status was related to emerging technologies in art and fashion, new concepts of luxury, and contemporary knowledge in medicine and health. 1 Dedication To my mother, Mina, the strongest woman I know, and to my grandparents, Park Sang Ki and Park Chong Ja. Thank you for believing in me. I love you. i Table of Contents PREFACE .................................................................................................................................................... iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................................................... viii Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 1 Chapter One: Furs, Magnificence, and Masculinity at the Henrician Court (1509—1547) ....................... 7 1. 1 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................. 7 1. 2 HENRY’S PAINTED FUR GOWN ...................................................................................................... 7 1. 3 FURS IN HENRICIAN PORTRAITURE AND ELITE AESTHETIC CULTURE ....................................... 14 1. 4 “YOUR EXTERIALL APPARAYLL VSE ACCORDING TO YOUR HONOUR”: FUR DRESS IN HENRICIAN SUMPTUARY LEGISLATION AND DEFINING ELITE MALE AUTHORITY .......................... 22 1. 5 ELITE EXPENDITURE ON FUR DRESS: DID FURS TRULY LOSE THEIR STATUS OF MAGNIFICENCE? .............................................................................................................. 31 1. 6 HUNTING, ANIMAL SKINS, AND THE PERFORMATIVITY OF ELITE MASCULINITY ...................... 37 1. 7 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................... 45 Chapter Two: The Changing Representative Status of Fur Dress in Elizabethan Court Portraiture and Three Visual Conceits (1558—1603) ......................................................................................................... 46 2. 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................ 46 2. 2 ELIZABETH I’S PORTRAITURE: A NEW ROYAL PROGRAM AND COURT AESTHETIC .................. 47 2. 3 ELIZABETHAN CONSUMPTION OF FUR CLOTHING AND ALTERNATIVE FASHION PREFERENCES ...................................................................................................................... 56 2. 4 FASHION AND SUBJECTIVITY AT THE ELIZABETHAN COURT ...................................................... 64 2. 5 THE ELIZABETHAN SILHOUETTE: CONSTRUCTING AND PAINTING AN ALTERNATIVE BODY AND THE PROBLEMATICS OF FUR .................................................................... 68 2. 6 FURS AND HYGIENE IN EARLY MODERN PHYSICIANS’ TEXTS AND THE PICTORIAL CONCEIT OF A HEALTHY URBAN BODY .......................................................................... 72 2. 7 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................... 79 Chapter Three: Model Citizens: Mercantile Portraiture and Fur Dress in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries ...................................................................................................................................................... 81 3. 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................ 81 3. 2 MERCHANT ACCESS TO FURS IN THE ENGLISH MARKET ........................................................... 83 3. 3 FUR, VIRTUE, AND GRAVITAS: A MERCHANT’S RIGHT TO PORTRAYAL ..................................... 89 3. 4 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................... 96 Chapter Four: The Merchant’s Hat: Beaver Felt Hats in Seventeenth-Century Holland and England .... 98 4. 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................ 98 4. 2 MATERIAL EXAMINATION OF BEAVER FELT AND ITS SPECIAL QUALITIES .............................. 102 4. 3 DUTCH UNIFORMITY AND COMMUNALITY THROUGH BEAVER HATS ..................................... 107 4. 4 INCLUSION AND EXCLUSION: HAT HONOR AND MATERIAL GREED ......................................... 111 4. 5 RUBENS’S PORTRAIT OF SUSANNA LUNDEN ............................................................................. 118 4. 6 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................. 123 ii Chapter Five: The Fur-Trimmed Jak and High-Burgher Ideals of Female Domesticity in Dutch Seventeenth-Century Portraiture and Genre Scenes (1650—1670) .......................................................... 124 5. 1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 124 5. 2 INVENTORIES: TYPES OF JAKKEN WORN AND THEIR FUR TRIMMINGS .................................... 130 5. 3 INDUSTRIOUS HOUSEWIVES IN JAKKEN AS PARAGONS OF VIRTUE AND THE NEW LUXURY ........................................................................................................................... 132 5. 4 SITES OF WARMTH AND GENERATION: JAKKEN BY FIREPLACES AND IN THE STUDIO .............. 142 5. 5 A NATIONAL GARMENT ............................................................................................................ 150 5. 6 CONCLUSION: THE JAK AS STILL-LIFE AND FETISHISTIC PROXY ............................................. 153 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................ 156 Tables ........................................................................................................................................................ 160 TABLE 1. 1 COMPARATIVE STATUS OF FURS IN 1533 ACT OF APPAREL ......................................... 160 TABLE 1. 2 COMPARATIVE VALUATION OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF FURS IN TUDOR BOOKS OF RATES FROM 1536, 1558, 1562, 1582 ................................................................ 163 Images ....................................................................................................................................................... 166 CHAPTER ONE IMAGES .................................................................................................................... 166 CHAPTER TWO IMAGES .................................................................................................................... 201 CHAPTER THREE IMAGES ................................................................................................................. 233 CHAPTER FOUR IMAGES ................................................................................................................... 242 CHAPTER FIVE IMAGES .................................................................................................................... 273 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................................ 304 Appendices ............................................................................................................................................... 327 APPENDIX A ELITE TUDOR PORTRAITURE DEPICTING FUR GARMENTS, 1505—1558 ................... 327 APPENDIX B ELITE ELIZABETHAN PORTRAITURE DEPICTING FUR GARMENTS, 1558—1603 ........ 378 APPENDIX C PORTRAITS OF LONDON MERCHANTS AND RETAILERS IN FUR DRESS, 1528—1625 . 399 APPENDIX D DUTCH PAINTINGS DEPICTING THE FUR-TRIMMED JAK, 1650—1670