The term “Renaissance”, or rebirth, was coined by historians in the mid 19th century to describe the period in Western European history that was characterized by a resurgence of ideas, philosophies, and culture from the classical period. A golden age of cultural, intellectual and ideological movements occurred between roughly the early 14th to the late 16th century in Europe that drew on many elements of classical Greek and Roman history. From the decadence of the Middle Ages and the fall of the Roman Empire, the Catholic Church increasingly exerted a dominant influence on European life and became the defacto broker of power in Europe. So it was that within this cultural setting, the dominant ideas of the Renaissance emerged from the collection of city-states in Italy and proliferated throughout Europe via the well connected commercial routes of the time.
Florence, in particular, was emerging as a powerful city-state through its commercial strength as a textile producer and banking center. Its burgeoning economy and growing mercantile class made it a focal point for the cultural transformations that would be associated with the Renaissance. The fall of the Byzantine Empire also fueled change in Western Europe as exiled Greek scholars established themselves in the west, bringing with them copies of classical philosophical texts, literature, and salvaged art works and opening to the Europeans a door to the riches of the classical Greek and Roman periods that had been lost through the centuries of internal tribal warfare and barbaric invasions.
Money from the new middle classes went towards commissioning artists and architects to create masterpieces in quantity and scale unmatched till then. Artists such as Giotto, Ghiberti, Brunelleschi, Donatello, Masaccio, Lippi, Ghirlandaio, Botticelli, Lotto, da Vinci, Michelangelo, to name a few, elevated art to a new level and form of cultural expression. The Renaissance began to flourish in the kingdoms to the north of Florence as well, with new ideas and momentum of change spreading along trade routes. Venetian Italy and the regions of the Netherlands also were transformed by new ideas, aesthetics, and commerce.
By the early 1500’s fashions in Western Europe had developed to the extent that extreme trends abounded both in clothing and in shoe styles. The pointed-toe poulaines, with points sometimes reaching such lengths that the tips were tied to the wearer’s knees with a strap, were one such shoe form and the chopines, or platform shoe, was another. The sole of the chopine was extremely exaggerated in height and would raise the wearer in status and stature with platforms made from wood or cork.
The origin of chopines is somewhat disputed, with notions that it originated as a European trend through Venice, which was geographically more exposed to eastern influences (and much of the embellished forms of European dress between the 14th and 16th centuries arose from this exposure) or that it stemmed from the Iberian peninsula, where cork was abundant. Whichever may be the case, it is certain that Venetians adopted the chopine with much enthusiasm as can be seen in multiple art historical examples as well as surviving examples of the shoe.
Venetian women were known for their sophisticated and luxurious costume as Venice was a thriving center for a growing mercantile class that bridged the cultures of east and west through trade and commerce. Interestingly, not only did Venetian woman of the patrician class display the commercial riches of the time period but so did the Venetian courtesan, who in many ways held a unique position in society. Venetian courtesans established themselves in society as a class apart from other women but in a manner that often elevated them in their associations with the male elite: they were often educated and cultured and carried themselves in such a manner that would scarcely differentiate them from the nobility.
| Venetian noblewomen and their courtesan counterparts were often indistinguishable from one another in their costume, as evidenced by the well-known Carpaccio painting that identifies two Venetian women but leaves to the viewer to dispute whether they are women of the aristocratic class or courtesans. The discarded chopines in the painting may symbolize the ‘availability’ of the depicted women but in terms of their dress and their use of chopines, a definitive association cannot be made. What further remains a curiosity is the aspect and function of the chopines. They were a highly attenuated idea of a shoe and could not have been very comfortable, as often Venetian women would have to prop |
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| themselves up against their servants to be able to walk. That the liberated courtesan would want to compromise her freedom of movement wearing chopines of 8 or 10 or even 20 inches hight (as seen in an example from the Museo Correr dei Veneziani) also seems odd. However, in history it is often the case that form, function and desirability of costume are at variance and we can only appreciate the oddities of caprice. | ||||||||||||
*image: Vittore Carpaccio, Portrait of Two Venetian Women, c. 1490
*image: Twenty-inch Chopines, 16th century, Venetian, Museo Correr dei Veneziani
Tags: 14th Century, 15th century, 16th century, Carpaccio painting two venetian women, chopines, cork shoes, History of Renaissance Shoes, Italian Renaissance, platform shoes, pointed-toe poulaines, Renaissance Europe, Renaissance Fashion, Renaissance History, Renaissance Shoes, Venetian courtesans, venetian noblewomen, Venice Renaissance, wood shoes
By the first half of the sixteenth century, political reorganization in Europe had diminished the number of courts throughout Western Europe but the interest in luxury display in clothing did not abate. Though centers of power had shifted and consolidated throughout the region, the nobility still maintained a strong sense of its distinction in the manifestation of costume and a period of regional or ‘national’ costumes developed.
The fashion dominant in Spain, and subsequently exported to other European courts, was one of rigid formality with a preference for very dark garments that reflected the gravity of Spanish national identity. The lines of the costumes were no longer soft and free-falling as the houppelande (free-flowing gown either tied at the waist or left loose-fitting) of the previous century but rather straighter and stiffened in form. The women’s bodice came into fashion for the upper body and the farthingale, a stiff, rounded underskirt that created an exaggerated form, dominated the fashion of the dress, both of which served to accentuate the slimness of the woman’s torso.
