Giovanna--Renaissance Christmas

Giovanna--Renaissance Christmas

Ladie Faire Doll Designs

19th OOAK Design:

Buon Natale!

Renaissance Christmas

"Make we merry, both more and less,
For now is the time of Christmas."

--Verse from anonymous medieval carol

In Medieval and Renaissance Italy originated some of the earliest Christmas traditions. St. Francis of Assisi is said to have written the first Christmas carol and performed the first living Nativity scene, complete with animals, in order to explain the Christmas story to the local people. Italians and many other Europeans celebrated the full "Twelve Days of Christmas" which ended on January 6, with the Feast of the Epiphany, celebrating the visitation of the Wise Men. Feasts were held on this day and children received gifts of candy representing the gifts the Wise Men brought to the Baby Jesus.

This design presents Giovanna, a young Florentine noble-lady of the Renaissance period. She is richly dressed for "La Festa dell'Epifania."

Renaissance Christmas

What would a typical Medieval or Renaissance Christmas-time feast consist of? The wealthy classes would have served such exotic fair as roast swan and goose, rubbed with butter and saffron to produce a golden glow and sweet, herbal flavor. Venison may have also been on the menu and in Italy, sea-food was traditionally served on Christmas Eve, including many varieties of fish as well as eels. Along with the meats were also served a variety of baked goods and pasties both savory and sweet, and dinner would have concluded with sweets such as cakes, marzipans, and candied fruit and nuts. Wines and ales, often spiced and mulled, would also be served.

Renaissance Christmas

The overdress is a rich burgundy and gold floral brocade, with a geometric design going down the split front. The two sides of the overdress are pulled together under the bust with a gold chain ending in golden bell-shaped filigree and wrapped around two ornate gold buttons.

Renaissance Christmas

Renaissance Christmas

The outfit is in a Renaissance style,popular throughout the Italian Peninsula from approximately 1470 to 1540, and similar to that portrayed in Franco Zeffirelli's lush production of "Romeo and Juliet." It is in the luxuriant fabrics and colors favored by the wealthy classes in Italy's burgeoning cities, rich in merchant-trade, artists and scientists. Florence was a hub for the burgeoning cloth trade, importing exotic satins and silks from the east and producing and exporting textiles as well. Clothing as well as fabric was becoming more ornate and colorful, richly adorned and intricately pieced. The outfit comes in three separate and removable parts. First the wine-colored velvet cape, lined with luminous tulle in the same color and trimmed with burgundy and green cording twisted with gold bead chain. This is attached to the shoulders of the overdress with two straight pins embellished with the same beads that make up the rest of the jewelry (I didn't want to ruin the outside of the overdress by attaching snaps).

Renaissance Christmas

Renaissance Christmas

The underdress is of the sumptuous wine velvet, in the typical empire-style shape of the time, gathered under the bust with a belt of heavy woven and ribbon braid in burgundy and gold. The skirt falls in soft gathers straight to the floor, and the scooped neckline and hem are trimmed in delicate gold braid. The long sleeve of translucent wine tulle are gathered twice with the same braid as the belt.

Renaissance Christmas

Accessories include a gold tulle veil trimmed in gold braid, held on the head by a little flower-cap of burgundy and green ribbon with gold bead stamens. Her jewelry, aside from the gold ring and earrings that came with the doll originally, is hand-made in the Renaissance style. The earrings have had dangles added of burgundy, green, and gold beads, while the necklace is of ornately twisted and crimped gold wire, trimmed with dangling pendants of pearl, burgundy, gold and green beads. The doll also comes with a pair of burgundy pumps.

Renaissance Christmas

The base of this design is a beautiful "Alyssa" doll, with an olive complexion and shiny chestnut hair, which has been styled in loose ringlets; the sides are drawn back into a braid bound in burgundy velvet. Her exotic looks were perfect for this project. She has received a partial, sealed facial repaint, having almond-shaped, hazel-green eyes and full, burgundy lips.

To view other dolls in this design family, click the link below:

Medieval/Renaissance Designs