A Revolution in Colour

€143.90


Shipping in 4/5 days

Product Information

ISBN9781350405622
PublisherBloomsbury Publishing PLC
FormatHardcover
Number of pages280
Weight (kg)0.616
Publishing Date17/10/2024
Price (excl. tax)€135.75
Tax€8.15
Price (incl. tax)€143.90
Availability1 unit in external warehouse

Product Description

This major volume aims to re-colour the European world of dress, c.1300-1800. New dyes created one of the most important visual experiences of the period, yet their story has been side-lined by a focus on visual experiences shaped by the high arts. Meanwhile, theatrical productions and period films still abound with broad assumptions about the growing dominance of black clothing for elites during the period, while ordinary people are imagined having worn coarse greys and bleached garments. This volume presents clear evidence that even the clothing of the middle classes could be much more expensive than paintings, and that coloured clothing and accessories were ubiquitous across society.

Contributors shed new light on the economic, environmental, and cultural dimensions of colour in dress. The range of dyes expanded considerably in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, drawing on Asian and Mediterranean knowledge, new collections of recipes, and the greater diversity of plants available through New World trade. Working creatively with organic plant, animal, and mineral materials to make colours involved considerable knowledge, pleasure and skill. The creation of colour through dyes thus reveals a whole range of global agricultural and craft technologies that can inspire future material worlds and transforms our understanding of Europe´s cultural heritage.