IMGR25

DRESSING THE SKINS

I pcrhapt wdl-known redpes, k is dear ihac ikill and ankoy combincd to prodoce a ak thai was superior co anything scen up to chat time, mn to the famed leather front tadlmtt. and k was to havc rcpcrcussions all om Europę. From tfae earliest eunes the Mul qualky and kwdy appeannee of Spanish leather shoes and gjora wete edebrated, d both wcrc frequendy employed as cosdy and prized gifts for ezalted penonages. k is not appearance alone that madę the leather so tenowned: an andent French proverb i,*Il est fort cooune cordouan’. As late as 1567 che Icalian wrker Fioravanti commenccd l desaipcion of the processes employed in nuking leather ‘tapestrics* wkh the words .. u pigliano di queUe pdle eon !cquali i calzolari foderano le scarpc..The word Imaw scems to have puzzled both the sixcccnth*ecnnuy French translator and the •cntłcth*ccntury German. Predseły what the shoemaker did wkh his pazócular kind of uh er which was to be taken for hangings is stall noc absolutdy dear, bot k probably fen to the lining of shoes, foim bcing a lining.

' Fionwui, Leonardo, 'DdTane di carami łToro e sua faiiura' in DdU Speechu 4 Sdatb Umremlt, wiec, ij«7, I, ciup. 41. p. 92.The an was also praiicd in much iht ume tenns in 1500 bjf Ganom, TbonUM. 1 Pk**ś UnfocmU dl Tutte le Setom, Florcncc, t J60, p. ójo.