ABSTRACT
This chapter presents evidence gathered from wills, inventories, and pictorial sources in order to follow the changing fortunes and associations of the Virgin’s dress over three centuries of continuous use in performance. It shows how the performance was quite literally invested with meaning through its costuming, and how such meaning changed over time along with the very fabric of the actors’ clothes. In 1367, Giusto de’ Menabuoi painted his version of the Virgin’s blava silk dress in the triptych, its close-fitted neck- and bust-lines were in line with contemporary fashion. The Virgin Mary was represented at a grand public event wearing a crown and mantle that were uniquely and identifiably Jacopina d’Este’s is striking. During Jacopina’s lifetime she would have lived a life mainly hidden from public view, yet she had inserted herself into public discourse by means of her patronage.
