Theatre Dress - La Galatea 伽拉泰亚

There is little secret that much of my photography work often has a Japanese influence to it.

They often contain elements of Japanese styles and influence....

Afterall, my other best known works are from Japan.

This Venice Carnevale, the Japanese touch just got a bit stronger. I finally met up with my Japanese friends from Atelier Shione (Tokyo). My Japanese friends Rin and Fran are self taught tailors specialised in recreating European historical costumes, usually from the 15th to 18th centuries. All their dresses and wigs are self made.

The theme of their costumes this year is Actors and Theatre Dress, with special reference to the 1667 the individual oil paintings of Leopold I and Margaret Theresa in theatre dress by Jan Thomas van Ieperen. In the famous painting, Leopold I appears in costume as Acis in La Galatea.

On January 24, 1667, an equestrian ballet was performed on the Burgplatz in Vienna to celebrate the wedding of Emperor Leopold I and the Spanish infanta Margarita Teresa.

The ballet told the story of a competition between the Four Elements. Air or water, aided by fire and earth—which had created the most beautiful pearl? It didn’t really matter. The point was the spectacle and that the bride was the perfect pearl. In Latin, Margarita means pearl.

Leopold I (Leopold Ignaz Joseph Balthasar Franz Felician; 9 June 1640 – 5 May 1705) was Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia. The second son of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, by his first wife, Maria Anna of Spain, Leopold became heir apparent in 1654 after the death of his elder brother Ferdinand IV. Elected in 1658, Leopold ruled the Holy Roman Empire until his death in 1705, becoming the second longest-ruling emperor (46 years and 9 months) of the House of Habsburg. He was both a composer and considerable patron of music. On 12 December 1666, he married Margaret Theresa of Spain (1651–1673), daughter of King Philip IV of Spain, who was both his niece and his first cousin. She was depicted in Diego Velázquez' paintings sent from the court of Madrid to Leopold as he waited in Vienna for his fiancée to grow up.

The Vienna court was famous for its costly theatricals, in which at times the Emperor and Empress also took part. Italian operas and ballets were lavishly staged, often with some additional music composed by Leopold himself.

La Galatea was Miguel de Cervantes’ first book, published in 1585. Under the guise of pastoral characters, it is an examination of love and contains many allusions to contemporary literary figures.

The Venice Carnevale is not solely about masks. Many local Italians and an increasing number of foreign participants now enjoy a preferance for historical costumes or painted faces. During Carnevale, the whole Venice becomes a real life theatrical stage, and many of these historical costumes carry deep perspectives...