{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1359274"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1359274/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2017JT2618/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2017JT2618/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2017JT2618","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2009BY6492","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2009BY6493","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017JU5544","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1359274/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1359274","accessionNumber":"38041800154379","objectType":"Book","titles":[{"title":"Diversarum nationum habitus","type":""}],"summaryDescription":"Pietro Bertelli’s Diversarum nationum habitus (The Habits [i.e. clothing] of Different Countries), first printed in 1589, is an example of the popular sixteenth-century genre of costume books, which gave readers a guide to the typical clothing of various classes and professions in different countries. They were popular both as tourist souvenirs, and as vicarious travel for those unable to visit other nations.\r\n\r\nPlate 7 of this book is titled Cortigiana Veneziana (Venetian courtesan). As well as being included as part of Bertelli’s book, similar lift-the-flap prints were sold loose as tourist souvenirs. This image was one of 13  artefacts investigated in 2019 as part of ‘Gendering Interpretations’: a collaborative project between the V&A, University of Plymouth, Vasa Museum (Stockholm), Lund University, Leiden University and the University of Western Australia. \r\nThe plate shows a Venetian courtesan (high-status sex worker) wearing a skirt, which can be lifted up to reveal breeches underneath. This mix of male-coded and female-coded is an accurate depiction of what Venetian courtesans typically wore; many also wore men’s shirts. Venetian authorities worried that male-presenting courtesans would stimulate men’s appetites for sex with other men (which was punishable by death), or for transgressively non-procreative sexual practices associated with sex between men.\r\n\r\nGender nonconformity – and particularly the idea of women, or people assigned female at birth, wearing men’s clothes – was associated with sexual availability in the early modern imagination, largely because male-coded clothing was more tight-fitting and revealing in areas such as the legs. This is likely to have been the main motivation for the Venetian courtesans’ conventional dress. However, given that there were 10-12,000 courtesans working in early modern Venice, it is reasonable to assume that not all of them experienced this gender nonconformity in the same way. For some, the clothing was likely just part of the job; for others, the fact that it was conventional for courtesans to dress like this represented an opportunity to present their gender in a way that felt most comfortable to them. People who desired masculine or nonconforming gender expression could seize the opportunity that was provided by the role of a courtesan to dress the in the way they wanted to. In cases like this, where large numbers of people all engaged in gender nonconformity, it is important not to homogenise their individual motivations.\r\n","physicalDescription":"Volume of 78 leaves, all illustrations of costumes, but plates bound out of sequence. Lacks: plates 37, 38, 67-74 and folded plate of Sultan's procession ; includes additional plates from Vol. I: 1-8, 93, 94 99-104. \r\nWith engraved title-page and armorial frontispiece. Originally published in 1592. \r\nComplete copy held as Vol. II of 3 volume edition published 1594-1596 at pressmark: 87.C.53","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Bertelli, Pietro","id":"AUTH354157"},"association":{"text":"author","id":"AAT25492"},"note":""},{"name":{"text":"Bertelli, Pietro","id":"AUTH354157"},"association":{"text":"publisher","id":"x32600"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"paper","id":"x30308"},{"text":"ink","id":"AAT15012"}],"techniques":[{"text":"printing","id":"AAT53319"},{"text":"engraving","id":"AAT53225"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Quarter leather with paste paper sides and green vellum corners.  Previously re-backed. Marbled made endpapers and marbled edges.","categories":[{"text":"National Art Library","id":"THES271541"},{"text":"Books","id":"THES48986"},{"text":"Costumes","id":"THES269529"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"NAL","id":"THES48605"},"images":["2017JT2618","2009BY6492","2009BY6493","2017JU5544"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"NAL","id":"THES251738"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"book","id":"AAT28051"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Padua","id":"x29504"},"association":{"text":"printed and published","id":"x35383"},"note":""},{"place":{"text":"Italy","id":"x28927"},"association":{"text":"printed and published","id":"x35383"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1594","earliest":"1594-01-01","latest":"1594-12-31"},"association":{"text":"published","id":"x30682"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Length","value":"155","unit":"mm","qualifier":"closed","date":{"text":"23/06/2016","earliest":"2016-06-23","latest":"2016-06-23"},"part":"","note":"Measured in Book Conservation measuring box"},{"dimension":"Width","value":"115","unit":"mm","qualifier":"closed","date":{"text":"23/05/2016","earliest":"2016-05-23","latest":"2016-05-23"},"part":"","note":"Measured in Book Conservation measuring box"},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"19","unit":"mm","qualifier":"closed","date":{"text":"23/06/2016","earliest":"2016-06-23","latest":"2016-06-23"},"part":"","note":"Measured in Book Conservation measuring box"},{"dimension":"Width","value":"206 approx","unit":"mm","qualifier":"open book","date":{"text":"23/06/2016","earliest":"2016-06-23","latest":"2016-06-23"},"part":"approximate width of open book","note":"Approximate measurement"},{"dimension":"Height","value":"150 approx","unit":"mm","qualifier":"open book","date":{"text":"23/06/2016","earliest":"2016-06-23","latest":"2016-06-23"},"part":"approximate height from surface to highest point of open book with 25 degree upstand","note":"approximate measurement"}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Bookplate on upper pastedown: \"Bibliothèque du Profr. Deneux.\" Accessioned on 19 December 1872 (inscription: 19.12.[18]72). ","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Book, Diversarum nationum habitus nunc primum editi a Pe. Bertellio quibus addita sunt ordo Romani Imperii ab Othone II institutus pompa regis turcarum... by Pietro Bertelli, Padua: [Pietro Bertelli], 1594. ","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<A href=\"https://nal-vam.on.worldcat.org/oclc/1008268418\">LINK TO LIBRARY CATALOGUE ENTRY (corresponds to Copy A).</A>"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["38041800154379"],"accessionNumberNum":"38041800154379","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":null,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"NAL Pressmark","id":"THES56809"},"number":"87.C.195"},{"type":{"text":"Horizon bib. number","id":"THES270231"},"number":"753078"}],"copyNumber":"Copy A","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-05","recordCreationDate":"2016-06-10","availableToBook":false}}