A thematic compendium and in-depth study connected to the publication of the dossier “Moroni” written by Luca Brignoli and Enrico De Pascale (Giunti Editore, 2021), this research is the result of a collaborative project carried out by the teaching staff of the Two-Year Course in Historical Tailoring and Stage Costume..

The contributions by Alessio Francesco Palmieri-Marinoni (clothing and accessories section), Gian Luca Bovenzi (textile section), Paola D’Alena (lace and needlework section), Patrizia Lia (hairstyling section), Marco Merlo (arms and armour section), Lucia Miazzo (metalwork section), Chiara Maggioni (jewellery section), and Annamaria Heinreich (theatre section) will guide historians and enthusiasts through an attentive, curious, and detailed reading of the selected works.

The study is part of the scientific collaboration activities that Fondazione Lisio carries out with national and international museums.

“...they have, with their thoughts, changed their attire...”

by Paola MARABELLI and Alessio Francesco PALMIERI-MARINONI

What does it mean to analyse a garment in a painting? Why is it important to interpret clothing-related aspects within a work of art? Furthermore, what knowledge can be gained that allows for an increasingly complete understanding of the portrayed subject, the historical period, and the sociocultural context? These questions may seem obvious and trivial, but within the contemporary academic landscape, the interdisciplinarity of studies that also encompass the history of costume and fashion, as well as textiles, jewellery, arms and armour, and other related fields, remains rare or, at the very least, an approach that is not sufficiently taken into consideration. Grazietta Butazzi’s words almost seem utopian, as she recognised in the history of costume and fashion a history of objects, materials, forms, and techniques, to which were added the stories of the people and social groups who had worn, used, and created them, attributing to each of them progressively different meanings (Morini 2016, p. 78). What the costume historian hoped for was therefore an equal dialogue between objects, people, and images; a study that would also include literature, press, diaries, as well as the anthropological and cultural aspects that gave them origin and shape.

The following contribution, created on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the birth of Giovan Battista Moroni and following the publication of the dossier Moroni written by Luca Brignoli and Enrico De Pascale (Art e Dossier, no. 390, Giunti Editore, Florence), aims to provide a first complete and exhaustive investigation of all those aspects commonly included within the broad category of “fashion”. Resulting from the collaborative work of the lecturers of the two-year course in Historical Tailoring and Stage Costume at Fondazione Arte della Seta Lisio, this contribution also aims to provide the reader – whether enthusiast or scholar – with accurate terminology, iconographic comparisons, suggestions for interpretation, and reflections on the complex world portrayed by Moroni through six works from the collections of the Accademia Carrara of Bergamo, Fondazione Museo di Palazzo Moroni in Bergamo, and the National Gallery in London.

As a complement to the analysis, in accordance with the educational and scientific objectives of Fondazione Lisio and in order to demonstrate possible continuities between different fields, two reflections are proposed, one concerning theatrical costume design and the other contemporary fashion.