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ADFAS Narrabri 2023 – Pins & Poking Sticks, Decoding dress of the royal courts
Arts talks with Jacqui Ansell. Arrivals from 6.30pm for a 7.00pm start, Cinema 1, Crossing Theatre.
Pins & Poking Sticks – Decoding dress of the royal courts.
A contemporary of Shakespeare informs us that ‘a ship is sooner rigged by far than a gentlewoman made ready’. In A Winter’s Tale, Autolycus peddles ‘pins and poking sticks of steel’, seductive smocks, perfumed gloves, bugle beads and other irresistible items. What were these objects and what was their role in the ‘art’ of dress? Moral messages and secretive signals in emblematic jewellery and embroidery contributed to Elizabeth I’s image as
the ‘Virgin Queen’. The daughter of King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, she reigned from 1558 to 1603. In this lecture we will decode the dress worn by the courtly elite and their monarchs.
Jacqui Ansell read History of Art and Theory at the University of Essex before going on to gain an MA in History of Dress from the Courtauld Institute. Formerly an Education Officer at the National Gallery, London, and a tutor and writer for the Open University, Jacqui is a senior lecturer at Christie\’s Education, London, where she writes, presents and tutors online courses on Art History, the Art World, and the History of Jewellery.