#eleonora di toledo

“The crimson Pisa dress” in all its glory. 

It’s a dress from ca. 1560, discovered in a monastery in Pisa, where it was probably used to dress a statue of the Virgin Mary. To enable taking it on and off the bodice back had been removed and the skirt much remodeled. It has since been restored twice. The “Moda a Firenze” photos shows it after the first restorations, with longer proportions and missing the bodice back. This photo, one I took in 2008, shows it after the second restoration, with the long train back in place and a substitute bodice back added. It’s a stunner! The velvet is deep red, and the trims couched to create more surface. 

The tailoring of this dress is basically identical to Eleonora di Toledo’s funeral dress, which has lead some to conclude it was made by the same tailor, and once worn by either Eleonora herself, or one of her ladies-in-waiting. “Moda a Firenze” suggests the latter, as it cannot be matched to the Medici inventory lists. It is however known the ladies-in-waiting wore crimson dresses made by Eleonora’s tailor in a triumphal entry to Siena in 1561. 

The dress is today in the care of the Palazzo Reale in Pisa, along with two other late 16th/early 17th century dresses from the same monastery. 

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