By combining eyewitness images with period documents
and artifacts we can improve our understanding of what the past really looked
like. This can be done for any time or place in history when you have a conjunction of pictures, words and/or objects. In this post, I’ll use all three to examine the dress of
late-18th century Spanish California.
A.
In September of 1791, José
Cardero, a young, self-taught artist, added two sketches at Monterey,
California to a growing portfolio of images he’d made on the Spanish scientific
expedition led by Alejandro Malaspina.
B.
Those portraits, and other
pictures Cardero made during his visit, are our best pictorial evidence of how
the men and women of early Spanish California dressed. And though they were
made at the presidio, or fort, at Monterey
and the nearby Mission San Carlos, the clothing and hairstyles are typical of
what you would have found elsewhere in California at that same time.[1]
We know this because
details of their clothing are confirmed and sometimes explained by contemporary
documents, especially the lists of supplies sent every year by sea from New
Spain (Mexico) to California.
Unfortunately, the supply
lists for Monterey have not been published, but those for the Santa Barbara
Presidio have been, in a wonderful Spanish/English edition by the Santa Barbara Trust for
Historic Preservation. In addition, the
Trust has conducted extensive archaeological investigations at their site, and
a few of the pictures I’ll include come from this work.[2]
C.
The couple, usually
identified as a soldier and his wife, are probably wearing their best clothing,
judging by the the woman's fabrics, ribbons, and lace and the fact that he sports a
highly-decorated cuera, or leather
armor. We might even think that this is
an officer and his lady, but the truth is that we just don’t know. The
saw-edged bars above the man's coat cuffs look like rank insignia, but not much
is known about how presidial soldiers indicated rank on their uniforms.
The woman’s bodice appears
to be sleeveless (displaying the full, lace and ribbon trimmed sleeves of her chemise), fitting tightly to her torso and laced up the front. It is trimmed at the bottom with some kind of
tabs - perhaps gathered ribbon. The
lace at the bottom of the bodice is harder to explain. Is this attached
to the bodice or, since her sleeves are also trimmed, is her chemise shortened
and worn outside the waistband of her skirt to show the lace? Other details: she wears two forms of fichu -
a black scarf and then a band with ruffled edge. The woman’s skirt could be of
damask or printed fabric. Both Chinese
silk (saya saya) and printed cotton (indianilla) appear in the Santa
Barbara Presidio supply lists.
My very great thanks to the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sport, Kingdom of Spain; Museo de America, Madrid; and the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation for their generous assistance.
Excerpts from Supply Lists, Presidio of Santa Barbara,
California
Invoice, San Blas, March 10, 1792.
150 pairs of side-lacing shoes (150,, pares de Zapatos de abotinar)*
Invoice: Mexico, February 24, 1788
4 pieces of superior printed cotton from Barcelona (4 Piezas Indianillas Superiores de Barcelona)
Invoice: Mexico,
January 25, 1789.
8 dozen assorted medium grade neckerchiefs, mostly black (8,, Doz[ena]s Mascad[a]s de ½ m[ar]ca
Surtidas abundando negras)
D.
7 dozen crimson stockings, embroidered on the side (7,, Dozenas de Medias Carmesi Bordadas àl
Canto)
12 pieces of number 80 ribbon from Genoa, 32 varas, pearl
and crimson (12,, P[ie]as Liston n[úmer]o
80,, de Genova de 32 v[ara]s Nacar, y Carmesi)
9 pieces [ribbon] number 40, blue and green, from Granada for lack of
it from Genoa (9,, id[em] n[umer]o 40,,
azul, y verde de Gran[a]da por falta del de Genova)
Invoice: Mexico, December 29, 1790
30 dozen shoes for men and women, the latter 6
and 7 point (30 dozen[a] Zap[ato]s para
homb[r]e y Muger estos de 6,, y 7,, puntos)
90 pieces of fine, narrow genuine Brittany linen (90 Piezas Bretañas ang[osta]s lex[itimas]
finas)
10 pieces of Chinese silk (10 piezas Sayasayas)
E.
6 bundles of blue glass beads (6,, Maz[o]s de Abalorio Azul)
6 bundles of large garnet beads (6,, d[i]chos Granate gordo)
12 varas of fine wide lace from Lorraine (12,, varas de Encaxe fino ancho de Lorena)
2 pieces of gold cloth ribbon (2 p[ie]zas liston de Tela de Oro)
2 pieces of watered ribbon, 1 pearl and the other black (2 d[i]chas Id[em] de Aguas 1 nacar y otra
negra)
6 dozen fine black hats with
low, flat crowns and silk lining (6. Dozenas Somb[rero]s neg[ro]s copa chata
forro de seda)
90 pieces of fine, narrow
genuine Brittany linen (90 Piezas Bretañas ang[osta]s lex[itimas] finas)
F.
F.
80 pairs of breeches of
reinforced blue wool velvet, lined with common cotton fabric, pockets of
dressed deerskin, and yellow buttons with loops (80 Pares calsones de Tripe
azul reforzado, forrados en Manta Bolsas de Vadana y Boton Amarillo de Aza)
G.
60 blue chupas of cloth from
Puruagua with cuffs and collar of 2nd grade scarlet cloth, plain
yellow metal button, lined with common cotton fabric, sizes 2 and 3 (60,,
Chupas de Paño az[ul] de Puroagua con buelta y collarín de paño grana de 2a.
boton de metal Amarillo lisos forrad[o]s en manta de 2a. y 3a. talla)
10 pieces of Chinese silk
(10 piezas Sayasayas)
Requisition: Santa Barbara, December 5, 1791
50 bundles of large green and dark blue glass beads (50,, mazes de Abalorio gordo verde y az[u] obscuro)
H.
30 pesos in imitation pearls (30,, p[esos?] en perlas de papelillo)
*I differ with the translation given in the Santa Barbara Trust publication. Zapatos abotinados were described by later eyewitnesses as side-lacing shoes or ankle boots worn by horsemen.
Images:
A. "Soldier's Wife, Monterey," by José Cardero, 1791. Museo de America,
B. "Soldier of Monterey," by José Cardero, 1791. Museo de America,
C. José Cardero also painted the plaza at Mission San Carlos de Borromeo de Carmelo (Carmel Mission), California, 1791. This detail shows what is probably a soldier without his cuera (civilian and military dress were nearly identical) and two women. Museo de America
D. A pair of embroidered stocking, Spanish, 18th century. Museo del Traje, Madrid.
E. Assorted glass beads excavated at site of the Presidio of Santa Barbara, California by the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation (SBTHP).
F. Brass button, back and front, roughly 3/4 of an inch in diameter. Note the loop (
aza) on the back (SBTHP).
G. A decorated buckle (SBTHP)
H. Imitation pearls (SBTHP)
Notes:
[1]
California’s three other presidios were San Francisco, Santa Barbara and San
Diego.
[2]
Giorgio Perissinotto, Catherine E. Rudolph and Elaine Miller,
Documenting Everyday Life in Early Spanish
California; The Santa Barbara Presidio Memorias y Facturas,
1779-1810 (Santa Barbara, California:
The Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation, 1998).
The supply lists for Monterey are not
published, but are located in the Archivo General de la Nación in Mexico
City.
