Rival Ideologies in Eighteenth Century Exotic Costume

This paper explores two competing ideologies in the use of exotic animals as costume in eighteenth century portraiture: The coveting of wild animals and their fur for self-aggrandizement in a world of global mercantile expansion, and the vilification of their innate behavior as foils for human moral dictates.

In the early modern period, costume was used symbolically in portraiture to convey positive messages of wealth and power. Eighteenth century French portraits such as Jean Victor de Rochechouart, Duc de Mortemart, demonstrate the patron’s status in wearing the exotic fur of a leopard, a symbol of sovereignty and dominion.

Conversely, in Italian Baroque Gaetano Gandolfi’s Cain and Abel depicts the story from Genesis 4:8 where Cain, slays his brother Abel. In Gandolfi’s portrayal of the murder, Cain is depicted as a hunter, wearing the fur of a lion. The lion becomes complicit, if only in symbol, of Cain’s heinous crime.