Aleit's Library

Here's a list of books and scholarly articles and websites I've found to be useful in pulling together my understanding of Antwerpen and Netherlandish history.

Art History

Because so much of my basis for my interpretation of Antwerpen market dresses comes from paintings, I found understanding the art history to be a valuable way to spend my time. 

Bruegel and the Culture of the Early Modern Dinner Party by Claudia Goldstein 

Should I go completely off my rocker and ever do a small by invitation only 16th century dinner, this is the book I will use the most.

Highlights:
"The Farnese family collected Flemish paintings on a large scale, displaying many of them - including at least seven of Beuckelaer's market scenes - in their Palazzo del Giardino in Parma. . .  As numerous scholars. . . have noted, Vincenzo Campi was likely given access to the paintings at some point before he began creating his own similar, but not identical, market scenes." (Goldstein, 145).

I don't know why it tickles me that Campi is derivative of Beuckelaer, but it does.

The works cited list is amazing and has led me to track down more books, including a translation of Juan Luis Vives' book about women's conduct. Here's a preview on Google Books.

Also, I've learned that one of the reasons Bruegel, Beuckelaer, and Aertsen feature so many allegorical scenes is so the humanists can talk about them at the dinner table and have witty conversation.

Great overview of jugs and spoons.

Peasant Scenes and Landscapes: The Rise of Pictorial Genres in the Antwerp Art Market by Larry Silver

This can be had rather inexpensively, and I found it to be worth it for difficult to find woodcuts by Antwerpen artists. The text is rather dry, but the chapters dealing with kitchens and markets and Antwerp as a cultural system are worth reading. 

Painting and the Market in Early Modern Antwerp by Elizabeth Alice Honig

This is the first book about art history I ever purchased. I'm pretty sure I bought it because of the color plates, only reading the text much later. I don't know that I'd say this is a must buy now, but if you have the money and the inclination you could. 

History 

Because of the nature of the SCA as a historical organization, understanding the history of the people wearing the clothing I admire is, for me, a must. While I can't recite the dates off the top of my head, knowing what was generally going on in the Netherlands, specifically Antwerp, is worthwhile. 

History of the Dutch Speaking Peoples 1555-1648 by Pieter Geyl
The first text I bought dealing with Netherlandish history. Because it can be rather inexpensive, I think it is worth buying. 

Holland Under Hapsburg Rule, 1506-1566: The Formation of a Body Politic by James. D Tracy

Available online here. If you can stand reading on a website, you should read this! It's free!

Textiles and Material Culture

Textiel in Context by Hanna Zimmerman

Available online from The Tudor Tailor's Etsy shop, here. I do not easily read Dutch, but get by well enough using my knowledge of German and Google translate. If you have the money, the English summary and images make this a worthy purchase.

Huisraad van een molenaarsweduwe: Gebruiksvoorwerpen uit een 16de-eeuwse boedelinventaris 

This is an out of print, Dutch language jackpot. My translation of Maritgen's inventory came from this text. While the English translation is limited to a paragraph or two for each chapter, the images of housewares make this book worthwhile.

Entrepreneurs in the Guilds: Ready-to-Wear Clothing and Subcontracting in late Sixteenth- and early Seventeenth-century Antwerp by Harald Deceulaer

This article is available in Textile History Volume 31 (2000), pages 133-149. Deceulaer discusses the Antwerp ell, the cost of ready to wear clothing in the Netherlands, and the ready to wear market in the Netherlands.

The Medieval Broadcloth: Changing Trends in Fashions, Manufacturing and Consumption by Katherine Vestergard Pedersen

I was primarily interested in the first article in this book, Three Centuries of Luxury Textile Consumption in the Low Countries and England, 1330– 1570: Trends and Comparisons of Real Values of Woollen Broadcloths (Then and Now) by John Munro so I purchased the Kindle edition which, because of the tables comparing the cost of woollen to the day's wages of a master mason, is actually better to read on a computer. If you're very interested in cost analysis or understanding the wool industry, this is worth investing in.