Gian Giacomo del Conte, Il Libro del Sarto

Gian Giacomo del Conte’s “Il Libro del Sarto”

Il Libro del Sarto: Remarks on the Sensory History of Clothing and Textile Products During the Italian Renaissance

by Pamina Herrmann

On the 16th of January 1579, the Milanese tailor Gian Giacomo del Conte (1520/25–1592) placed a note on the back of a dress design. This note described the costumes and cost of the clothing that he would create for Renato Borromeo and his companions for a masked ball.[1] This note is included in a collection of writings and drawings of diverse textile products from del Conte’s workshop.[2] The collection is known as Il Libro del Sarto and can currently be found in the library of the Fondazione Querini Stampalia in Venice.[3] In view of the thriving sensory history, the Libro del Sarto raises the question of a sensory-historical approach to clothing and textiles as well as their purchase and production in the early modern period. As to now, only some historians have touched upon aspects of the sensory history of clothing and textile products in their work.[4] In this article, I would like to present some thoughts on the sensory history of clothing and textile products, as well as their purchase and production, by looking at “a forerunner of today’s fashion catalogs”, as Eugenia Paulicelli called the Libro del Sarto.[5]

Il Libro del Sarto was created in Milan between 1540 and 1610. It most likely existed in the tailor workshop of del Conte as a group of loose pages.[6] The book contains designs for tents, valances, flags, bed curtains, and various items of clothing for everyday use by the Milanese upper class and worn during festivals. Besides drawings, it contains notes with information about how the depicted objects were made, the type and quantity of material, and the cost of production. In addition, fashion engravings by Battista da Parma (ca. 1580 –1592) and several different drawings most likely have been added to the collection after its time in del Contes workshop.[7]

Researchers used terms such as catalogue, advertisement, workbook, and pattern book when explaining the function of the Libro del Sarto in del Conte’s workshop.[8] The fact that he used the designs as part of negotiations with customers was never questioned. However, the explanations for the conclusion that these documents were used in communication with the customers and how exactly this occurred were sparse. Furthermore, the question of whether the drawings and notes had a function for the internal work process of the tailoring workshop has not been investigated. A detailed analysis of the drawings and notes and a combination of the findings with other research led to new considerations regarding its function in del Conte’s workshop.[9] In my BA thesis, I argued that the Libro del Sarto served as a tool for communication and planning within the tailoring workshop and with its customers, as well as for the execution of the tailoring work.

Communication between del Conte and his customers was most likely verbal. Nevertheless, in his workshop the process of purchasing and producing textile products relied strongly on the visual. With the help of drawings, del Conte and his customers produced and consummated information about different textile products using visual processes. The customers provided del Conte with drawings to communicate their wishes in detail and avoid incorrect interpretations of verbal or written orders. [10] Del Conte himself not only consummated the information about his customer’s wishes visually, but also produced information only accessible through sight. On the one hand, he used drawings with the faces and names of famous people from the Milanese upper class, ones who could not have been among his customers, as advertising to visually attract new customers of the same class.[11] These drawings were most likely exhibited in the window of the shop to attract the attention of customers walking by. On the other hand, he used various drawings of the same products to inform his customers about the different design options available, such as different sleeve or collar types or designs for tents that his workshop could produce.[12] (figs. 1, 2) Furthermore, the drawings displayed important information about the textile products, such as colour combinations, and about the final look, which was needed for production.[13] In doing so, the drawings in the Libro del Sarto visually supported the verbal negotiations between del Conte and his customers and helped del Conte and his employees to produce the textile products.

The process of shopping and making textile products was not only a visual and oral process. As the historian Evelyn Welch states, “shopping was a multisensory experience”.[14] In regard to the quality control of products, different senses were combined.[15] Even if we have no concrete evidence, it is very likely that del Conte and his customers actively engaged their senses in order to test the quality of the fabrics, accessories, and the final products.[16] In addition, the creation of textile products was not merely a visual process. Even though the drawings of the Libro del Sarto provided visual support to the production of textile products, the sense of touch was the most important sense for fabrication. Del Conte and his employees haptically engaged various materials throughout the cutting and sewing together of goods.[17] Whether these haptic signals were subconsciously perceived or consciously processed, leading to adaptations in the work process, remains to be researched.

Del Conte may not have written directly about the use of senses in the Libro del Sarto, but he provides information about the different types of materials and fabrics, discussing for which clothing item and textile product the fabrics are better suited.[18] Depending on the fabric, a different haptic experience was offered to the maker and, finally, to the wearer.[19] In this respect, the historian Katherine Bond argued that the density of the fabric used for a woman’s veil haptically influenced their stature, posture, and overall appearance.[20] It is also possible to consider how the type of fabric used for tents and bed curtains, their weave pattern, density, material, and colour effected the lighting conditions and soundscape inside the tents and beds. Whether people in the early modern period thought about this, whether the light and sound atmosphere impacted their lives, or whether these aspects influenced del Conte’s customers when making a purchase cannot be determined from the Libro del Sarto. The historians Ulinka Rublack and Patrica Allerston state that the smell and the sound of the textile product played an important role during the early modern period.[21] Even if we do not know with certainty, it is very likely that the textile products and clothing depicted in the Libro del Sarto made sounds when moved and held a certain odour. The Libro del Sarto remains silent about such sensory details – almost silent. In one drawing, we can imagine the sounds of a costume. The depicted fool is wearing the characteristic bells on his hat and clothing.[22] (fig. 3) These acoustic markers were symbols for the figure of the fool, its immaturity, amorality, and imprudence.[23] Through their sound, the bells reinforced statements conveyed through his action and visual impressions.

Fig. 3

Leafing through the Libro del Sarto has inspired some thoughts on the sensory history of clothing and textile products, including their purchase and production. At the same time, this has led to new questions concerning the sensory aspect of the Libro del Sarto. The purchasing process and the production of textile products in del Conte’s workshop relied strongly upon the visual sense, but as suggested here, also olfactory, haptic, and acoustic aspects were central for understanding the production and the wearing of fashion in the early modern period. However, further research is needed in order to unravel the function and meaning of the – multisensorial – sensory practices in a tailor’s workshop in the late Italian Renaissance.


[1] Fritz Saxl et al., eds, Il Libro del sarto: Della Fondazione Querini Stampalia di Venezia (Modena: Panini, 1987), 63v.

[2] Alessandra Schiavon, ‘Parole e chifre: le annotazioni nel Libro del Sarto,’ in Il Libro del sarto, eds Fritz Saxl et al., 65–66.

[3] Inventory number CL. VIII COD. 1 (=944).

[4] Ulinka Rublack, Die Geburt der Mode: Eine Kulturgeschichte der Renaissance (Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 2022); Patricia Allerston, ‘Consuming problems: wordly goods in Renaissance Venice’, in The material Renaissance, eds Michelle O’Malley and Evelyn Welch (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2007); Katherine Bond, ‘Fashioned with Marvellous Skill: Veils and the Costume Books of Sixteenth-Century Europe’, in Materialized Identities in Early Modern Culture, 1450-1750: Objects, Affects, Effects, eds Susanna Burghartz et al. (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2021); Valerie L. Garver, ‘Sensory Experiences of Low-Status Female Textile Workers in the Carolingian World’, in Sensory reflections: Traces of experience in medieval artifacts, ed. Fiona Griffiths and Kathryn Starkey (Boston: De Gruyter, 2018); Jonathan Faiers, Fur. A Sensitive History (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2020).

[5] Eugenia Paulicelli, Writing fashion in early modern Italy: From sprezzatura to satire (London: Routledge, 2016), 19.

[6] Doretta D. Poli, ‘La moda nel Libro del sarto’, in Il Libro del sarto, eds Fritz Saxl et al. 62.

[7] Schiavon, ‘Parole’, f. 65; Paola Venturelli, Vestire e apparire: Il sistema vestimentario femminile nella Milano spagnola (1539-1679) (Roma: Bulzoni, 1999), 157, 169.

[8] Paolo Getrevi, ‘Il Libro del sarto e i paradigmi del moderno’, in Il Libro del sarto, eds Fritz Saxl et al., 15; Paulicelli, Fashion, 19; Silvio Leydi, ‘Feste cortesi a Milano’, in Arcimboldo: Artista milanese tra Leonardo e Caravaggio, ed. Sylvia Ferino-Pagden (Milano: Skira, 2011), 279; Fritz Saxl, ‘Costumi e feste della nobiltà milanese negli anni della dominazione spagnola’, in Il Libro del sarto eds Fritz Saxl et al., 31; Alessandra M. Molfino, ‘Introduzione a un libro senza nome’, in Il Libro del sarto, eds Fritz Saxl et al.,13.

[9] A selection of research publications used: Katherine Barich and Marion McNealy, Drei Schnittbücher: Three Austrian master tailor books of the 16th century (Kennewick: Nadel und Faden Press, 2015); Rublack, Geburt; Evelyn Welch, Shopping in the Renaissance: consumer cultures in Italy 1400 – 1600 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005).

[10] Elizabeth Currie, ‘Fashion Networks: Consumer Demand and the Clothing Trade in Florence from the Mid-Sixteenth to Early Seventeenth Centuries’, Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies 39, no.3 (2009): f. 493.

[11] Paulicelli, Fashion, f. 19; Getrevi, ‘Libro’, 15; Currie, ‘Networks’, 494; Saxl, ‘Costumi’, 31–35; Poli, ‘Moda’, 58; Silvio Leydi, ‘Il sarto del Libro del Sarto: Gian Giacomo del Conte’, in Velluti e moda: tra XV e XVII secolo, ed. Annalisa Zanni (Milano: Skira, 1999), 26; Saxl et al. eds, Libro del sarto, 18r, 19r, 28r, 77r.

[12] Getrevi, ‘Libro’, 15; Currie, ‘Networks’, 493–94; Saxl et al. eds, Libro del sarto, 2r-13r, 74r-100r, 111r-112r.

[13] Getrevi, ‘Libro’, 15; Saxl et al. eds, Libro del sarto, 7r, 29r, 37r, 40r.

[14] Evelyn Welch, ‘The Senses in the Marketplace: Sensory Knowledge in a Material World’, in A Cultural History of the Senses in the Renaissance, ed. Herman Roodenburg (London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2014), 68.

[15] Serena Dyer, ‘Introduction’, in Shopping and the Senses, 1800-1970: A Sensory History of Retail and Consumption, ed. Serena Dyer (Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2022), 2.

[16] As known from other context, see Dyer, ‘Introduction’, 2; Claire Walsh, ‘Shopping at First Hand? Mistresses, Servants and Shopping for the Household in Early-Modern England’, in Buying for the Home. Shopping for the domestic from the seventeenth century to the present, eds David Hussey and Margaret Ponsonby (London: Routledge, 2016), 16.

[17] As known from other context and illustrations, see Garver, ‘Sensory’; Jost Amman and Hans Sachs, ‘Der Schneider’, in Eygentliche Beschreibung aller Stände auff Erden […]  eds Jost Amman and Hans Sachs (Frankfurt am Main: 1568).

[18] Saxl et al. eds, Libro del sarto, 46r, 47r, 73v, 109v.

[19] On the importance of the haptic experience of fur, see Faiers, Fur, 7, 8, 16.

[20] Bond, ‘Veils’, 349.

[21] Rublack, Geburt, 160; Allerston, ‘Consuming’, 21.

[22] Saxl et al. eds, Libro del sarto, 65r.

[23] Vincent Mayr, ‘Schelle’, RDK Labour, accessed 14-07-2024, https://www.rdklabor.de/wiki/Schelle.


OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
nemos (September 6, 2024). Gian Giacomo del Conte’s “Il Libro del Sarto” NEMoS. Retrieved December 13, 2025 from https://doi.org/10.58079/12rlv


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