9

One thing we have so far ignored is the fashionable veil attached to the
sitter’s pinned-up hair. It forms a ruffle at the back of her head, frames her
face, and cascades onto her left shoulder. We know that such filigree veils
were produced in Florence, and that from the 1560s onwards they were
worn not only as part of a lady’s attire but also to augment her coiffure.

Taken together, the textiles depicted in this portrait were extremely precious
 and costly, and function as a reminder of the sitter’s exalted status
in

16th

century Florence.

A B