Guido Reni’s Muse as a Costume

This piece was apart of the Bowes Museum’s “The Power And The Virtue: Guido Reni's Death of Lucretia”

This piece attempts to answer the question, what would the Guido Reni woman look like if she adhered to Instagram’s nudity policy? The piece consists of two parts: the faux body, and the draped silk. The faux body is supposed to replicate and exaggerate the female form as depicted by Reni, including a single exposed nipple that is common in his work. The faux body fabric is made from a champagne duchesse satin to replicate the soft lustre of his muse’s alabaster skin. The exaggerated hips evoke both the ideal female form on Instagram, and the hyperfeminine depiction of Reni’s renaissance woman. The hip shape is created and held using a custom steel-boned crinoline. The nipple was embroidered using French knot, and satin stitches, in five different thread colours. The draped silk seeks to emulate a ‘Toga’ in reference the classic lore that Reni so often depicted. The two-colour-shot silk dupion was chosen as the two tones created the same sense of depth of fabrics painted by Reni.

Photos taken by Harry Fraser and Sue Haldemann