LibGuides: The Line of Clothing: Rendering for Costume Design: Maria Stuarda

Biographical Information

Mary Queen of Scots (Mary Stuart), 1542–87, only child of James V of Scotland and Mary of Guise. Through her grandmother Margaret Tutor Mary had the strongest claim to the throne of England after the children of Henry VIII. This claim (and her Roman Catholicism) made Mary a threat to Elizabeth I of England, who finally had her executed. However, Mary's son, James VI of Scotland, succeeded Elizabeth to the English throne as James I. Mary's reported beauty and charm and her undoubted courage have made her a particularly romantic figure in history. She is the subject of Schiller's great drama Maria Stuart, of an opera by Donizetti, and of plays by Vittorio Alfieri, A. C. Swinburne, and Maxwell Anderson. Mary Queen of Scots. Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition, Q2 2016 Longer Biography

ArtStor

Searching in ArtStor is a great way to get visual inspiration for your designs through objects and art. One advantage of ArtStor is you can zoom in very closely on the image and look at the details.

Try searching Mary Queen of Scots. Try an Advance Search and set the dates to 1540-1590 search Portrait AND England, or Elizabeth I

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In Fine Style: The Art of Tudor and Stuart Fashion by Anna Reynolds
ISBN: 9781905686445
Publication Date: 2013-06-15
For In Fine Style, Anna Reynolds, curator of paintings at the Royal Collection, has drawn on the art of the period, as well as wardrobe inventories, literary references, contemporary accounts, and surviving garments to offer a fascinating account of the elite fashions of the day and the ways in which they were recreated in paint. The gold threads seen throughout the forepart of Elizabeth’s gown were costly, while the red dye that colored it came from crushed beetles and would have had to have been imported from Spain. Other works show their subjects with intricate ruffs, bright stockings, or broad farthingales, each item extravagantly adorned. Indeed, the main focus of Tudor and Stuart clothing was on rich materials that communicated the ability of the wearer to afford them, and, with the rise of the moneyed merchant class, sumptuary laws were established to limit their use to the nobility. Other forms of attire, including ornate hairdos held in place with wire and pleats that had to be set each time the garment was worn left absolutely no doubt as to the fact that the wearer had an army of servants and a wealth of spare time with which to attend to appearance.