[Illustration: Figure 3.--DRESS OF SIGMUND VON HERBERSTEIN for an embassy to the Sultan, 1541. The short gown (_Schaube_) of Italian brocade figured with black and gold has wide shoulders and padded upper sleeves. The collar, lining, and foresleeves are of similar fabric but with a dark violet ground for contrast. From _Gratae Posteritati_, 1560. (_Courtesy of British Museum, London._) {AMBO NOS ORATORES TALI VESTE AD TVRCARVM IMPERATOREM MISSI.}] Although the earlier painters of the Italian Renaissance recorded the decorative and often exotic dress of their times, their portraits of individuals consisted in the main of medallic heads and busts. It was the German portrait painters who, to a greater extent, recorded and disseminated the knowledge of fashions. Hans Burgkmair painted himself on the occasions of his betrothal in 1497 and his marriage in 1498,[5] and in the 16th century Hans Holbein the younger noted on his drawings the dress material and colors of the clothes worn by his sitters.[6] Even a much less distinguished person, Matthäus Schwartz, a clerk employed by the banking firm of the Fuggers at Augsburg, had a book prepared showing the clothes he wore at what he considered to be the most important stages of his career.[7] The first person to have such pictures printed was Sigmund von Herberstein, who deserves detailed consideration.[8] In his diplomatic career, which extended over 30 years, Sigmund von Herberstein served three Emperors--Maximilian I, Charles V, and Ferdinand I. He was a student of Russian history and an outstanding linguist, who, having learned Wendish as a boy, found no difficulty with the Polish and Russian languages. When, in his old age, he printed his memoirs, he doubtlessly aimed at giving information on how an ambassador should conduct himself and to this end included illustrations of what he actually had worn, which in many copies of the memoirs are carefully colored by hand.[9] Concerning his journey in 1517 (fig. 1), he states that “In these robes I was sent on the embassy to Sigismund King of Poland,” no doubt the fashion for the formal dress of an envoy. On his first embassy to the Grand Duke of Moscow in 1517 he was presented with a Russian fur-lined robe, but on his second embassy in 1526, he received a greater distinction (fig. 2): “Having been sent a second time by the Emperor Ferdinand then Archduke to Moscow, the Grand Duke bestowed upon me these robes.” This dress was far more sumptuous than the formal black velvet gown which he normally wore for embassies to the Spanish and other courts.