Les Singuliers et Nouveaux Portraicts... page 51 (recto) 1588

This is page 51 from "Les Singuliers et Nouveaux Portraicts...", a book of lace-making patterns produced in late sixteenth-century France by Federico de Vinciolo. Vinciolo was a celebrated designer, who served in the court of Henry II. But what does it mean to think of lace not just as decoration, but as design? In early modern Europe, lace was a luxury commodity and a marker of social status. Pattern books like this one were crucial in standardizing designs and disseminating them across Europe. The grid-like structure you see here allowed for the easy replication of patterns, enabling a wider population to produce and consume luxury goods. The pattern books were part of an early wave of democratization in the arts. To understand how the technology of bookmaking intersected with social and economic structures, historians look at things like trade routes, fashion trends, and the networks of patronage that sustained artists like Vinciolo. By considering these factors, we can better understand the social life of images.