More

We use some essential cookies to make this website work. We'd like to set other cookies to remember your settings, measure website use and inform our marketing. We also use content from other sites in our pages, and those sites may also set cookies. More information can be found in our cookies policy.

56-4 Fashion Characteristics

The hairstyle and garments of the woman in Leonardo’s La Belle Ferronnière were all in fashion in Milan, Mantua, and elsewhere in northern Italy in the 1490s. The long hair parted in the middle and gathered in a ponytail at the back, the bonnet on the back of the head, and the narrow decorative hairband worn across the forehead can also be seen in the sculpture of Beatrice d’Este (no. 52) and in a portrait (no. 55) and a medal (no. 53) depicting noblewomen from the courts of Mantua and Milan. In addition, the squared necklines, and the sleeves connected to the bodice by ribbons revealing a white blouse through the gaps at the shoulders, also reflect styles fashionable in northern Italy at the time (no. 55).

The decorative headband with a single gem in the center was known as a lenza in late fifteenth-century Italy, where it gradually fell out of fashion. However, the accessory experienced a revival in popularity among French women in the early nineteenth century, when Leonardo’s painting rose to fame under the mistaken name of La Belle Ferronnière, and by the 1830s, it had come to be known as a ferronnière.