Women’s Fashions and Politics in Seventeenth-Century Spain: The Rise and Fall of the Guardainfante *
Abstract Women’s clothes were at the center of political debate in the Spain of Philip IV (r. 1621–65), and no garment inspired more controversy than the wide-hipped farthingale, or hoopskirt, known as the guardainfante. Considered scandalous with its reputation for hiding illicit pregnancies, the guardainfante was banned in 1639. Nonetheless, the guardainfante became more popular than ever and turned into an enduring icon of Golden Age Spain during the reign of Philip’s second queen, Mariana of Austria (1649–65). Despite the guardainfante’s high level of visibility, most notably in court portraits by Diego Velázquez, very little is known about the historical experiences of the women who wore it. This article demonstrates that real women really did wear the guardainfante in a variety of contexts outside of portraiture and the theater. In Madrid and in cities throughout the Spanish empire, women of different stations and convictions participated in the political culture of their times by making, disseminating, and debating this controversial garment.
The grand tour and the Great Rebellion : Richard Lassels and "The Voyage of Italy" in the seventeenth century
CHANEY, Edward Title: The Grand Tour and the Great Rebellion: Richard Lassels and "The Voyage of Italy" in the Seventeenth Century Author: CHANEY, Edward Date: 1985 Publisher: Slatkine Citation: Geneve, Slatkine, 1985, Biblioteca del viaggio in Italia / Bibliotheque du voyage en Italie, 19 URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1814/18594 ISBN: 88-7760-019-5 Abstract: Questo studio presenta una quantità di materiali biografici concernenti viaggiatori in Italia come Milton, Marvell, Harvey, Hobbes e molti altri meno conosciuti; ma è soprattutto importante per un'analisi dettagliata del fenomeno sociale e culturale del «Grand Tour», che conobbe un considerevole sviluppo dopo il 1630. E anche la prima volta che si studiano la condizione di Esiliato monarchico, in quanto fenomeno culturale isolato, e le conseguenze religiose, sociali e politiche che ne sono derivate. Oltre ai grandi archivi e alle grandi biblioteche, l'autore ha spogliato sistematicamente numerose fonti poco conosciute per mettere in luce una serie di dati inediti e molto interessanti sulla straordinaria esistenza dei cattolici e dei monarchici inglesi che furono «condannati al vagabondaggio» secondo le parole di uno di essi. La gran parte dei pittori, dei poeti, dei filosofi, dei musicisti, dei teologi inglesi passarono all'estero fra il 1640 e il 1660 un periodo della loro esistenza, accanto a politici monarchici che erano destinati a governare la Gran Bretagna dopo la restaurazione.
The Idea of Luxury: A Conceptual and Historical Investigation
Part I. Preliminary Essay: 1. Luxury goods Part II. The Classical Paradigm: 2. The platonic prelude 3. The Roman response 4. The Christian contribution Part III. The Transition to Modernity: 5. The de-moralisation of luxury 6. The eighteenth-century debate 7. The historicity of needs Part IV. Politics, Needs and Desires: 8. Luxury and the politics of needs and desires 9. Luxury, necessity and social identity.