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he
gamurra was an Italian dress worn throughout the 15th century. It
was a very basic, functional garment worn by women of all classes
and ages. Kind of like the jeans and T-shirts of the Quattrocento.
Regionally, its name varied and it was also called cotta, camurra,
camora, zupa, zipa or socha . In its day, it was considered a long
lasting, practical dress. Many inventories include older, worn gamurre
that were still considered useful for wear at home onlyii.
In A History of Private Life: Revelations of the Medieval World,
Duby interprets two contemporaries of the time and their recommendations
on dress. Leon Batista Alberti, who says (quoting Duby) "new
clothes are for holidays; slightly used clothing is for everyday business;
and really worn clothing is for the home". Palmieri says (again
quoting Duby) "for everyday home use, wear only the same clothing
that everyone else wears. Two types of clothing were thus declared
fit (and probably worn) for private use: simple clothes and fancy
but worn or outdated costumes inherited from an ancestor or purchased
from the ragpicker." Later Duby states "A woman at home,
no matter what her station, was likely to wear a gonnella (fourteen
century) or gamurra (fifteen century, also known in Lomabardy as a
zupa)
So dressed, she could go about her household chores and
even run errands or make informal visits in the neighborhood."iii
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Figure 1: detail
from Pala Sforzesca, Lombard School, 1495. Shows a striped silk gamurra
with sleeves attached, decorated with aghetti. |
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