Renaissance

Spices, distilled waters and cosmetics provided a complex web of personal and socio-economical expression. Perfumes were sensual and carried the mind into rose gardens in the summer, heightened emotions and were believed to be healthy. Scents were also markers of taste and prosperity.

The early 1600s were a time of social, political and cultural change. These circumstances are reflected in dress, and we can read these especially well when comparing the portraits of Anne of Denmark from c. 1600 and from 1614.

A glimpse into a surviving High Renaissance palazzo in central Florence and what it tells us about life in the past!