clothing, fashion, dress, and costume in venice 907
selvage on red velvet indicated its implementation, while a green selvage
with a silver thread down the center marked the use of “foreign” (ameri-
can) cochineal.54
many silk manufacturing sectors located in the Venetian state—
Bergamo, Brescia, Verona, Padua, Vicenza, Feltre, and Belluno—also
responded to northern european merchants’ demands for silk taffeta,
satin, silk damask, and interwoven gold and silver threaded silk brocades.
these cities took part in and revitalized international trade by exporting
semi-finished materials, and wool and silk fabrics, to various locations on
the italian peninsula, in europe, and in the near east, and by adjusting
manufactured goods to international market demands. Due also to these
cities’ extensive power sources in water and wood, and to large quantities
of medium to high quality local wool, entrepreneur merchants no longer
depended upon foreign raw materials; instead, they produced a high qual-
ity raw material that was the substance for the locally produced woolen
fabrics sold not only in Venice but also in several cities of central and
southern italy, in german areas in the Balkans, and in the levant.55
Velvet, which was more expensive to produce than silk, benefited once
again from the arrival in Venice of expert weavers from nearby lucca
who created innovative international patterns with rich floral motifs that
were “worked” into the velvet’s folds.56 Velluto riccio, or pile on pile vel-
vet, was woven around circular and elliptical rings that gave it a dense,
three-dimensional surface; velluto soprariccio, in addition to its rich chiar-
oscuro surface, had gold or silver loops woven into it; velluto ad opera
had designs of contrasting color or gold worked across its surface. the
heaviness and different lengths of threads created full-bodied velvet that
was associated in the minds of its onlookers and wearers with sumptuous
living and wealth. these fabrics set the standard for the choices made by
all of europe’s nobility. the “Vicar, or Doctor, or assessor, or local magis-
trate of the Venetian state on the mainland,” Vecellio reports, “wear long
robes of velvet with narrow sleeves lined with marten or lynx or other furs
during the winter.”57 indeed, Venetian velvets were renowned throughout
the world. they consisted of pile-weave silks on a satin background. the
three-dimensional effects were created by inserting an extra warp yarn in
addition to the background warp with the help of small iron tools. some
54 molà, The Silk Industry, pp. 146–48, 166–67, 173–76.
55 Demo, “Wool and silk,” p. 221.
56 gregorin, Venice Master Artisans, pp. 27–28.
57 rosenthal and Jones, ed. and trans., cesare Vecellio, Habiti Antichi et Moderni, p. 211.