Three Studies of Costume

This triple costume study by Carlevarijs documents three distinct outfit types from early eighteenth-century Venice, part of his systematic program of visual documentation that underpinned his work as the founder of Venetian veduta painting. Venice in the early eighteenth century was a city where social performance was particularly elaborate — the aristocracy, the citizenry, the foreign merchants, the clergy, and the carnival visitors all wore clearly differentiated dress that communicated social position and role. Carlevarijs recorded this social panorama in his sketchbooks as a resource for the figures he placed in his painted views, ensuring that the human life of his vedute matched the architectural accuracy of the buildings behind them.

Three figures in contrasting costumes are arranged across the sheet, with each study capturing a different color scheme and silhouette. The varied handling across the three figures suggests they may have been painted at different sittings.