Bern - History Lab https://historylab.es Fri, 20 May 2022 07:37:51 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 https://historylab.es/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-icono-historylab-32x32.jpg Bern - History Lab https://historylab.es 32 32 Cingara orientale https://historylab.es/cingara-orientale/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=cingara-orientale Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:31:21 +0000 https://historylab.es/2022/02/19/cingara-orientale/ Engraving by Christoph Krieger, entitled Cingara orientale, included in De gli habiti antichi

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]]> Around 1590 Cesare Vecellio (1521-1601) published in Venice one of the best-known works on Cinquecento costume, entitled De gli habiti antichi, et moderni di diverse parti del mondo. The two-volume volume, illustrated with engravings by Christoph Krieger, contains representative costumes from Europe, Asia and Africa, together with extensive commentaries that provide detailed information on the costume, the place of origin of the people and their customs. Among the pages the author devotes to Asia, with the inhabitants of India, is the Gypsy woman (cingara orientale). What stands out about her is the hat that covers her head, an element that Vecellio calls a “crown” in the original Italian text but which is called a bern in Gypsy women’s clothing. This consists of several wide ribbons wound or intertwined on a wide and more or less rigid base, which could sometimes be made of wicker or even wood. The use of this headdress does not seem to correspond to any kind of social or civil category, but rather it is possible that it was an element of protection for both women and children, useful against the rain or the sun, which they would have to face as a nomadic group constantly exposed to the inclemency of the weather. This female attire was complemented by the use of sackcloth over the body and cloaks over the shoulders, which often made it easier to carry children.

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]]> Recua and gypsies in a forest https://historylab.es/recua-and-gypsies-in-a-forest/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=recua-and-gypsies-in-a-forest Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:30:19 +0000 https://historylab.es/2022/02/19/recua-y-gitanos-en-un-bosque/ Landscape with Figures in oil by Jan Brughel the Elder. Prado Museum (Madrid)

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]]> This oil on copper by the Flemish painter Jan Brueghel the Elder dates from the early 16th century, when his views, forests and panoramic landscapes became more realistic and his work is rich in details of great technical quality. Throughout the 17th century nature had become the ideal setting for the depiction of gypsies, a wandering group that had been moving around Europe since the early 1400s. Brueghel depicts the subject by depicting a lush forest in the foreground, to the left of which opens diagonally into a wide valley painted in blue. The gypsy women are strategically positioned on a path of obligatory passage that allows them to approach passers-by and their wares. The one seated with the child in her arms covers her head with a bern, a circular hat made of a wicker base and interwoven fabrics, which was very characteristic of Gypsy women’s clothing until the mid-17th century. The rest of the women wear a simple scarf tied around their heads. Although Gypsy women were usually barefoot, Brueghel depicted them wearing shoes, with the exception of the boy who walks without shoes. Several of them carry walking sticks to help them on their way.

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