Costume Design with a Large Headdress and Long Cape 1604 - 1656

Baccio del Bianco made this pen and ink drawing on paper, "Costume Design with a Large Headdress and Long Cape," likely in Florence during the first half of the 17th century. The world of Florentine court spectacle, overseen by the Medici family, provides the social context for this drawing. Court festivals, weddings, and plays were opportunities for the display of power. Costume design was a crucial element in staging these events and asserting cultural prestige. Del Bianco was one of the artists employed to create these elaborate spectacles. The scale of the headdress and cape suggests the figure’s importance within the drama. The drawing is less concerned with the individual, and more with the symbolic function of the costumed figure. Drawings like this were functional, and would have been part of the larger organization of labor in the Medici court. Art historians consult a wide range of archival sources in order to understand the political and social function of art objects like this.