Women's Cloaks in 15th Century Florence:

Allegorical Virgin Cloaks

Cloaks have not received much attention in costuming, with reason: There are few extant examples, and even portraiture, which generally depicts people in indoor settings, does not depict them often. But for re-creationists, having that extra layer of warmth at outdoor events is important.

A special note about allegorical portraits: I submit that while allegorical portraits are frequently idealized Renaissance concepts of what ancient people wore, elements of them may indeed be accurate depictions of period. The Virgin/Madonna paintings are especially troublesome. There are very few examples of women wearing mantellos (female versions of cloaks) in period portraits, but the Virgin is almost always depicted as wearing one, as indeed a married lady should have by Florentine standards. So you will see that I've uploaded a slew of Virgin pictures to use as examples. These are not the typical semi-toga wear that many Virgins seem to be wearing (observe sleeve styles in these, which are quite contemporary). The few male portraits I've got are usually contemporary, so that's not such a problem, but women just don't seem to get pictured in cloaks much.

The Function of the Mantello: Most of the portraits you see of contemporary Florentine women are made while they are still allowed to go without mantellos, or cloaks. Florentine women had a grace period after their weddings while they could still dress like unmarried women (generally a few days), but after that, they were expected to wear mantellos when they went out in public. Mantellos were very light, shapeless cloaks. There were strict rules about how much decoration you could slather on these overgarments. It is also likely that married women resented having to cover up their gorgeous clothes with mantellos. My impression of them is that they were big, sheet-like things that you used to cover yourself head to toe with loose draping.

Men's Cloaks: Men's cloaks appear to be big, baggy, draping affairs, sometimes with loose sleeves and loose hoods. They generally reach to the calves. They don't look very heavy to me, and do not appear to be lined all the time. Click here for men's cloaks.

Women's Mantellos: Women's mantellos were frequently lined and floor-length. Sometimes they appear to look like big sheets, while at other times, they look quite cloak-like to SCAdian eyes.

Enough talking, let's look at pictures!

Sandro Botticelli, Madonna and Child, detail, date unknown. Found at this location. Florentine school. I'm disobeying my rule of not including portraits I can't find full information on, because this one's so gorgeous. A rippling, deeply edged shawl collar cascades diagonally down to the side seam. This one's particularly unusual in that it features a closure in the form of a double chain below waist level and a wider one just at the neck. I'm not sure how well this'd work in real life, but it's very pretty.

Sandro Botticelli, Madonna and Child with Angels, detail, 1465. Florentine school. This cloak is gorgeous, isn't it? A rich blue with golden edging, this one features the same turned-back collar. Here we get a better look at the clasp -- a round golden one. It doesn't look like a standard SCA cloak clasp much, but it shouldn't be that hard to find. Note that here, the golden edging is on the edges of the turned-back collar, and not on the side hems of the cloak.

Sandro Botticelli, Madonna and Child with Adoring Angel, detail, 1468. Florentine school. Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, California. This gives you a very nice view of the shawl edges of the cloak. It looks like it has extremely loose sleeves, similar to a man's cloak. It is edged very narrowly in gold. Garbies will also notice the embroidery on the edges of the woman's sleeves. Very pretty kind of cross-hatched design.

Sandro Botticelli, Madonna and Child with Angel, detail, 1470. Florentine school. Located at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston. GORGEOUS, is all one can say about this. Let's start with the material -- a rich, heavy velvet in deep blue (alessandrino dye, perhaps) with deep black lining. A turned-back shawl collar runs down the length of the cloak. But look, there's more: A lavish mantle, richly embroidered at its edges and sparkling with more on its surface, embroidered to match the cloak below. This is one of the richest, most elaborate cloaks I've ever seen, and definitely the most richly decorated. Click right here for a bigger version of this, and be prepared to drool.

Sandro Botticelli, The Annunciation, detail, 1480. Florentine school. This cloak is very simple, with a blue outer layer and a black lining. The lining becomes a turned-back flat collar. It clasps at the neck, though the clasp is difficult to see. The cloak's sides are edged in some sort of gold trim. Similar trim is on the edges of the black collar, but not as wide. You'll see that the cloak is not hooded. Overall, this is a fairly standard SCA-style cloak, except for the turned-back collar. The lower hem does not appear to be embellished -- good thing, too -- it's so long it'd get dirty fast!

Sandro Botticelli, Madonna of the Book, Detail, 1483. Florentine school; located at the Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan. A dark blue cloak with an interesting gold-speckled black velvet collar. This one also has pretty golden embroidery on its left side. To me it looks like a starburst and flames. This one also does not feature a clasp; I suspect the shawl-collared cloaks were not generally meant to close in front. Click right here for a larger version of this.

Sandro Botticelli, The Madonna and Child with St. John the Baptist, 1490. Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio. Image Copyright © The Cleveland Museum of Art 2001 This cloak features an unusual yellow lining. It's more a mantello shape with very shapeless, baggy sleeves. It also has a shawl collar that seems to run the length of the side edges.

Sandro Botticelli, The Madonna, 1500. This plain cloak has a black lining and turned-back collar, but no gold trim visible. Her sleeve style is also very contemporary. The clasp is difficult to see from here.

Men's Cloaks

This page last updated: July 10, 2009

All text copyright Vangelista di Antonio Dellaluna, except where otherwise noted. All portraits are understood to be copyright- free and are presented as research aids only.