Jewels in the Renaissance, from ornament to status symbol
Symbol of wealth and nobility, i jewels in the Renaissance they were a way to affirm one's social role. The Renaissance is the historical period between the mid-1400s and the end of the 1500s and which was characterized by a strong cultural and artistic renewal, based on the centrality of man and his ability to assert himself in the world thanks to his own abilities. It was also a time of great economic, political and social change, marked by the discovery of the New World in 1492.
From New World gems to Florentine goldsmiths
The voyages of exploration and geographical discoveries of the 1400s and 1500s brought to Europe, among many innovations, also large quantities of metals and precious stones. Christopher Columbus, after the discovery of America in 1492, continued his travels to the new continent and a few years later found large quantities of gold in Venezuela. In the same period, the Portuguese Vasco da Gama arrived in India, discovering its diamond mines. At the beginning of the 1500s, Spanish expeditions led by Hernán Cortès and Francisco Pizarro conquered and destroyed respectively the Aztec empire in Mexico and the Inca empire in Peru, both very rich in precious resources.
This had a significant impact on jewels in the Renaissance, which became increasingly richer and more elaborate thanks to the gems and gold that arrived from the New World. In Florence, the Italian city at the center of the cultural and artistic rebirth, goldsmith artists became as well known and important as painters and sculptors: many of these, indeed, like Brunelleschi and Donatello, began their careers in the city's goldsmith workshops. Specialized craftsmen were born such as the gold beater, who worked gold and silver until they were reduced to very thin sheets, the gilder and the jewelery designer. The goldsmiths of Florence acquired great fame and the symbol of their art became Ponte Vecchio, the bridge over the Arno where in 1593 Ferdinando I de' Medici had all the goldsmith shops moved.
The most famous was Benvenuto Cellini (1500-1571), who, in addition to being a goldsmith, was a sculptor and writer and worked at the court of the French royal family and then for the noble and powerful Medici family, dukes of Florence. The most famous works of him were the bronze statue of Perseus with the head of Medusa, still in Piazza della Signoria in Florence, and the Salt shaker of Francis I of France, in gold, considered his masterpiece.
The style of jewelry in the Renaissance: the success of pendants, rings, earrings and the passion for pearls
In this era the most appreciated jewels were the pendants, which became fashionable thanks to the new style of women's dresses, with wide necklines. Pendants were worn on a chain or sometimes attached to clothing: many of them had gemstones set in them or miniatures of carved images. These necklaces often paired with belts, creating a sort of set.
They also liked them a lot rings: Both women and men often wore more than one. These too were adorned with gems and sometimes had a compartment to hide small relics.
I jewels in the Renaissance assigned a prominent place to earrings, which became an indispensable ornament for the ladies of the nobility, but sometimes also for men. In their ears, women mainly wore elongated pearls or teardrop-shaped precious stones.
Bracelets, on the other hand, were not widely used, due to the long and abundant sleeves of the clothes.
The most widespread metal in Renaissance jewels wasgold, but they especially liked the precious stones such as rubies, emeralds, sapphires and even more so pearls, both for their great value and because they are considered a symbol of purity and fidelity. In fact, pearls, as well as on pendants and earrings, very often appeared as ornaments on women's clothes and hairstyles.
Nobles and jewels in the Renaissance: famous portraits
They help us get an idea of jewels in the Renaissance some famous paintings by Italian painters of the sixteenth century.
Two famous examples are the portraits of Agnolo and Maddalena Doni di Raffaello Sanzio: both spouses wear different rings with the same stones, a ruby and an emerald, a symbol of fidelity and fertility respectively. The most obvious element, however, is the pendant that Maddalena wears around her neck: it is made of gold with a ruby, an emerald, a sapphire and a pearl; Around the emerald there is a miniature of a unicorn, which represents purity.
Another famous painting is Spring di Sandro Botticelli: here no nobles are depicted, but nine characters from Greek mythology, including Venus, in the centre, and the three Graces. Venus wears a pendant reminiscent of the lunula, which the women of ancient Rome they wore to promote fertility. The three Graces, however, her maids, wear pendants with precious stones, pearls and enamelled gold leaves.
Il Portrait of Eleonora of Toledo with her son Giovanni, by Agnolo di Cosimo known as Bronzino, represents the Spanish noblewoman with one of the 11 children she had by the Grand Duke of Tuscany Cosimo de' Medici, of whom she was the first wife. Eleonora wears two pearl necklaces; her pendant, with a diamond set in gold and a pearl, recalls her belt, also made of gold links with precious stones and a final tassel of pearls. Pearls also decorate the gold net that covers the square neckline of the dress and other gold threads run throughout the dress, underlining Eleonora's wealth and nobility.
