Rogier van der Weyden 1445-50
Seven Sacraments (left wing) (detail)
Oil on oak panel, 119 x 63 cm
Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp (Original Image)
Oil on wood, 98 x 85 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Original Image)
Mid 15th Century French Dress; And Its Accessories
By Eleanor le Brun:
The gown we in the SCA call the “Burgundian” was a popular
formal gown worn from the middle to the late 15th century by many
different countries in northern
Why do we call this style “Burgundian”?
The 1420s to 1450s Houppelande beginning to transition to “Burgundian”
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Seven Sacraments Rogier van der Weyden 1445-50 Seven Sacraments (left wing) (detail) Oil on oak panel, 119 x 63 cm Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp (Original Image) |
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Eligius in His Workshop Oil on wood, 98 x 85 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Original Image) |
The “Burgundian” Style Popular Beginning in the 1450s Declining by the 1480s
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Portrait of a Young Girl |
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Mary of Burgundy's Book of Hours, c. 1467-80 Illumination on parchment, 22 x 16 cm Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna (Original Image) |
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Presentation of Tournament Prizes(detail) 15th Century; Rene d’ Anjou Traite de
la Forme et des Devis Comme on Fait le Tournois.
source: Medieval Womens' Calandar Notice the veil on the hat to the left, the veil is worn under the hat and comes through the hat to drape down the back. Also notice that the hat opening is larger and the veil simply drapes down and does not "poof" out as the fantasy version of the hat is typically shown. |
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The Donne Triptych (detail) Hans Memling c. 1475 Oil on oak, National Gallery, London (Original Image) |
Chemise and
other under garments
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Abegg Triptych |
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Book 7, 2
Woman in bed; naked couple embracing; Janus appears first at the moment of conception, after the tasks are divided among deities; between them Saturn and Juno (background) Maître François (illuminator) Fol. 312v: min. (Original Image) |
The layer worn next to the skin would have been the chemise, this garment would have likely have been made from white linen. The garment likely has a geometric tunic style cut with very little or no pleating around the neckline. When women are depicted with their kirtles unlaced the chemise is loose fitting around the upper body and seems to be a light fabric. The sleeves are long to just beyond the wrist and are not overly full, as the chemise sleeves must fit under a slim fitted sleeve.
Women of this period may have not worn any thing under their chemise. In the art of the period many times when nudes are depicted the women are depicted nude, while the men in the same paintings are depicted with short braies(underpants). The evidence is inconclusive to whether or not women wore any kind of underwear. If women did wear some sort of underclothes they would have mostly likely worn something similar to the men’s braies. There are a few images of women wearing braies , usually while being tortured, but it is far more common for women who are not fully clothed to be depicted nude.
In the rare cases where women’s shoes are shown in period art they are wearing something on their feet under their shoes. It is probable that women wore some sort of sock, due to the colored feet in art work , and these stockings were likely similar to men’s hose ending at the knee rather than tying at the waist. Stockings in the period that are shown are most commonly black, but blue and red are also seen in some manuscripts.
In
the mid and late 15th centuries the stocking might have been
constructed with either the 14th century method or a 16th
century method. In the 14th
century hose were made of adding a piece at the top foot and splitting the
center to the sides or the 16th fashion of cutting a pieced sole
with a one piece top.(Crowfoot, 188)
Hose in
this period were made from wool cut on the bias with different piecing methods
for the foot. Garters would have
been worn to keep the stockings in place.
These garters could have been made from tablet woven strips or from leftover
strips of fabric as they were prior in the 14th century (Crowfoot,
142)
Kirtle
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Seven Sacraments Altarpiece (detail) |
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Detail the Massacre of the Innocents.
Hugo van der Goes, c. 1470 Right panel of triptych on early life of Christ. (Original Image) |
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Braque Family Triptych (right wing) Rogier van der Weyden c. 1450 ] Oil on oak panel, 41 x 34 cm Musée du Louvre, Paris (Original Image) |
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Visitation Rogier van der Weydenc. 1445 Oil on oak panel, 57 x 36 cm Museum der Bildenden Künste, Leipzig (Original Image) Notice the side lacing on Elizabeth's dress and the small pouch under Mary's dress. |
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Bathsheba Hans Memling. 1485 Oil on wood, 191 x 84 cm Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart (Original Image) Notice the "ruffle" at the bottom edge of the servants dress. |
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St Columba Altarpiece (right panel) Rogier van der Weyden c. 1455 Oil on oak panel, 138 x 70 cm Alte Pinakothek, Munich (Original Image) Notice the grey band at the bottom edge of the servants dress. |
The kirtle was worn as the every day dress for the middle and lower classes. It was likely the supporting under dress for the ceremonial V-necked over gown as well. This is based on the visual evidence of another dress being worn under the V-necked gown and the images of women in various states of dress.(Unterkicher,55 )(Scott,90) The material used to construct this dress would most likely have been wool the most common fabric of the period. If the dress were lined it would be lined with linen. Some of the upper class women have been shown wearing colorful kirtles with a damask pattern, these could have been made from silk, and would likely have been lined in linen as well.
The kirtle is a bust supporting garment and holds the breasts in their natural position, not raised high on the chest as earlier in the 15th century and 14th centuries. At this point of the century, it does not flatten the chest, at the end of the 15th century and into the next fashion style of the early 16th century the kirtle became tighter, flattening the bust. The bodice eventually became stiffened possibly strips of linen or other stiff material, transforming into the corset worn in the 16th century.(http://costume.dm.net/corsets/history.html#intro)
By viewing the many period depictions of this dress its construction likely used a 4 panel bodice with many variations in neckline and waist seams. The neckline could be round, slightly V-ed or slightly square (becoming more so as the century went on). The dress can have a waist seam in the front and back, only in the back or none at all.
The length of the hem for the Kirtle varied from floor length to ankle length. There are many depictions of the lower class women that have a “ruffled” bottom edge on their kirtle. This may have been a way to replace an old worn hem or some kind of decorative treatment. Also on a few kirtles depicted in paintings by Rogier van der Weyden, a gray section along the hem has been painted, this could be fur used as a guarding on the hem.
The kirtle sleeves are commonly short with the seam on the back of the arm. Rogier van der Weyden painted a few kirtles that had a raglan sleeve as well, but this is not the most common method sleeve construction method for the dress. The sleeve had a length of about ½ ways to the elbow. Over this short attached sleeve a long decorative sleeve could be pinned to the dress. The pinned on sleeves could be made from a brocade fabric such as silk or simply a contrasting solid color, probably made from wool. These sleeves have the seam at the back of the arm and are fitted but not overly tight. This pinned on sleeve has a very little curve to the sleeve head; it does not always come all the way up to the top of the shoulder.
The most common closure is front lacing, but there are also a few depictions of left side lacing as well. For example the painting “Visitation” by Rogier van der Weyden c. 1445 has a left side lacing, (see the image above). To close the dress a lace passes though eyelets, hand worked eyelets have been found from the late 14th century. (Crowfoot, 164) The lace is generally done in the Z lace or spiral lace fashion. In this method the lacing holes are not placed opposite of each other on either side. Instead the holes are offset; the hole on one side is ½ way between the holes on the opposite side. This allows the dress to lace completely closed and the pressure is applied from side to side with the lace, rather than from top to bottom in the later X lace hole placement.(Johnson) The lace could have been made from finger loop braid and the lacing may have had a point, called a chape. Chapes from the period were made from folded tubes of metal.(Egan, 281) In the image of the slaying of the innocents by Hugo van der Goes above the chape is dangling from the top of the dress.
V-Necked Gown
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The Presentation in the Temple (detail) |
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The Portinari Triptych
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Triptych of the Family Moreel (right wing)
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The V-necked gown was worn over the kirtle by the upper classes. It had a wide deep V neck with a collar and was worn with a wide tight belt worn high under the bust. This gown could be made from wool, silk velvet or brocaded silk. Typically the collar, cuffs, and hem guarding are all made from the same color material. The most popular colors for these accessories are white, gray and black, most likely in period they were made from fur. There are depictions of this gown with green collar and green guarding, this would not be fur, and this simply may have simply been artistic license.
This gown may have had a fur lining, especially early in the transition from the Houppelande. In the period art the houppelande is often shown with the fur lining proudly displayed, this is much less the case for the V-necked gown. Inventories in the mid 15th century describe the gowns as “trimmed with fur” this does not mean that the gown was necessarily fully lined with fur.(Evans, 61) The types of fur used would have depended upon a ladies status in the society. There were many laws enacted during the period dictating who could use fur and what kinds of fur could be used based on class. The higher the social status the more rare the fur, therefore more desirable, the person was allowed to wear. Lettice, squirrel, fox, beaver, ermine and minver, and sable for black would all be types of fur used. (Boucher, 203)
The sleeves are long and fitted with a belled cuff. The cuff can be long enough to come down low over the hand, about to the beginning of the fingers. Sometimes you see this gown with a wrist length sleeve with the belled cuff turned back for easy movement of the hands.
The neckline is a deep V in the front and a shallow V in the back. There are depictions of gold cording lacing across the front of the deep V neckline, maybe to hold the gown up onto the shoulders. In the back the collar narrows similar to the front and tucks under the belt, similar to the front... The front of the gown is filled in with a simple rectangle of fabric, called a pièce (Scott, 142). This piece of fabric is simply pinned to the kirtle to cover the lacings. The pièce was typically made from a rich fabric possibly velvet or satin, satin at the time being a smooth silk fabric. The pièce could be a contrasting color to the gown or sometimes plain black even if the gown was black.
There are variations to the neckline shown in the art of the period. Occasionally the collar of the neckline is more rounded with a slight dip in the front, showing none of the dress below. This may just be a variation in style or it could have been based on modesty. The image of Mary of Burgundy above shows this neckline as well as many of the English brasses, sees the image of Anne Players below. There are also a few images painted by Hans Memling with this more round neckline,
The hem of the gown is typically overly long, about 6 inches past the floor, and usually guarded with the same material as the collar. The guarding on the hem could be just about 6 inches wide up to about 2 ½ feet, showing real opulence. The extra length of hem is commonly shown in the period art tucked up under the ladies arm for easy walking. Ladies who are dancing or traveling are sometimes also shown wearing a belt over the gown and the skirt is pulled up over the belt. This holds up the hem of the gown for easy movement when both hands need to be free. There are some images of this gown with a train, but it seems to have fallen out of fashion in 1467 Jacques Duclerc describes women’s gowns with out trains with broad borders of squirrel or velvet (Evans, 61).
Waist seam or not
This style is usually worn with a wide tight fitting belt, leaving the question of a waist seam unanswered. Both cutting methods work well to achieve the silhouette. The gowns that are depicted without the belt usually do not show a waist seam, but many of these depictions did not show any seam lines in the gown at all therefore there is a lot of room for interpretation. The gown popular in fashion directly after the V-necked gown could have a waist seam.(Davenport, 343) There are also examples of Italian gowns from the same time period as our V-necked gown that were constructed with a waist seam. None of these observations give any definitive proof that a waist seam was used or not used. Since none of these gowns survived to today we will never know. This leaves the seamstress/tailor the decision for constructing the gown
Headdress
Veils
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Entombment of Christ |
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Deposition (detail) Rogier van der Weyden c. 1435 Oil on oak panel Museo del Prado, Madrid (Original Image) |
While wearing the kirtle alone many times women were depicted wearing a veil wrapped around their head. This veil can have plain edges or one edge can be ruffled or goffered. This “ruffle” is produced by changing the tension between the warp and weft threads of the fabric as it is being woven.(headgear) This veil is very long; in the painting “Entombment” by Rogier van der Weyden (c. 1464) a woman is depicted with her veil wrapped loose around her shoulders. The veil is long enough to wrap from her right shoulder, across the front of her body around her left shoulder across her back and over her right arm and drapes down at least one more foot; about 75 inches. From several different depictions it seems that the veil was commonly wrapped around the head from back to front.
Hoods
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Passion (Greverade) Altarpiece (detail) Hans Memling 1491 Oil on wood Museum für Kunst- und Kulturgedichte, Lübeck (Original Image) |
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Country dance scene from the "Hours" of Charles d'Angouleme before 1496, Late Middle Ages. Evans, Joan. Dress in Mediaeval France. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1952. pl. 66. |
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Matheron Diptych Nicolas Froment 1474 Oil on wood Musée du Louvre, Paris (Original Image) |
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Book 1, 28
Christ as heavenly judge above a group of men and women discussing about rape and purity Maître François (illuminator) Fol. 32r: min. (Original Image) |
Another head covering for the lower classes worn along with the kirtle is the open hood. This hood similar the 14th century versions, but is less fitted at the neck and is worn open rather than buttoned closed. These hoods were probably made from wool lined with linen. In addition to black, these hoods could be made in bright colors such as red or blue.
Hats
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Portrait of a Woman
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English woman, drawing of brass rubbing of Anne Playters, 1479 (Payne, 254) Notice the wires, for the "butterfly effect" |
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Fulk of Anjou Marries Queen Melissane(detail of ladies in waiting) Guillaume de Tyr. Historie de la Conquete de Jeusalem. MS. Fr. 2629, fol. 167, French c. 1460 Bibloteque Nationale, Paris Medieval Women’s Calendar 6/1999 |
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Jean Fouquet
French, Tours, 1455 Tempera colors and gold paint on parchment 4 1/2 x 3 1/4 in. MS. 7, FOL. 1 (Original Image) |
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Hans Memling
St Ursula Shrine: Arrival in Cologne (scene 1) 1489 Oil on panel, 35 x 25,3 cm Memlingmuseum, Sint-Janshospitaal, Bruges Women traveling wearing burgundian gowns with simple headresses lappets, and bands and “rolls” (Original Image) |
The “Burgundian” era enjoyed pageantry and ceremony and the
hats they wore refect this. There
were a multitude of different hats worn with the V-necked gown.
These included the henin, large turbans, pillbox style hats and
interesting short double cone hats.
These complex hats were not worn all the time, the hood and the band are
two simple examples of head gear from the mid 15th century.
The most popular hat of the time is called in the SCA a henin, this is a 19th century term, the term used in the period was atours. The word atours in modern French means finery.( Word Reference)
The henin, the most popular style of the period, had a cone shape that could be truncated or come almost to a point, but never perfectly pointed. The hat could be anywhere from a short hat just covering the back of the head, to very long inch steeple style. It was worn at the front edge of the hair line with the back of the hat placed over the ears. The hair line was some times plucked to portray a higher forehead, the image of beauty.
Often sheer white silk veils were draped over the henin. The length of the veils varied from shoulder to floor length. Sometimes the veil was worn under the hat and flowed out through the opening at the point. Other times the veils were draped in layers over the hat in stunning fashion as in the butterfly henin. To achieve this style two wires are attached like antennae to the front of the hat to suspend the veil in a high floating position. Small dressing pins were used to hold the veils in place.
The henin could be decorated with embroidery and beading. The decoration could be along the lower edge of the hat or it could have an all over pattern. A diamond pattern is the most common form of decoration for the hat. The steeple henin worn by Maria Portinari’s hat in the painting “The Portinari Triptych” by Hugo van der Goes was decorated in pearls with T’s and M’s; her and her husband’s initials.
Another variation to the henin was the addition of a lappet of black velvet at the front of the hat. This extra band of fabric could be short, to the bottom of the jaw, or long enough to come down over the shoulders. Jewels were pinned to the lappet for extra decoration as well. This lappet can also be seen worn alone as well, the images of women traveling in the St. Ursula Shrine by Memling and by young girls in the Portinari Triptych by Hugo van der Goes and the Donne Triptych Hans Memling.
The little black loop: How to get it to stay on your head
Looking at many images of these tall hats worn in the period you see that strange little black loop on the forehead. There are also depictions of women wearing bands with the forehead loops without wearing a hat. A popular theory is this loop kept the hat from sliding back on the head by providing a counter balance point. Explain better …The weight of the hat presses down on the loop at the forehead, and it cannot make the band slid off your head because of the shape of your head and the loop goes far down over the forehead. Therefore the hat cannot slide back off the head. The loop also may have been attached to the hat itself rather than to a separate band.(Virtue) For extra stability the very tall steeple henins might have also been pinned in the back to a bun worn high under the hat. In practice wearing the band also serves as a head band to keep your hair pulled back and neat away from your face.
This band could also be worn as a hat by itself, or with the
lappet By the end of the peirod
young girls were shown wearing the band with a simple creased veil draped over
the top.
Accessories
Belts
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Passion (Greverade) Altarpiece (detail) Hans Memling, 1491 Oil on wood Museum für Kunst- und Kulturgedichte, Lübeck (Original Image) |
 
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Marriage of Renaud de Monauban (detail)
Philippe le Bon. Renaud de Montauban. Ms. Arsenal 5073, fol. 117v, French 15th Century Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris. Medieval Women’s Calendar 6/1999. |
Belts for the kirtle
The kirtle is sometimes shown with a thin leather belt with two round metal tips connected by a chain. There are instances that you can see Latin phrases mounted to the belt. The belt is Worn low over the hips.
Belts for the gown
The V necked gown was worn with a wide belt, it can match the collar and cuffs or it can be a different contrasting pattern or color. There are several depictions of women wearing red belts, possibly could be made from soft leather. Mary of Burgundy is wearing a brocade belt that matches her hat. The belt is commonly closed with a large decorative D shaped buckle at the side front, not quite under the ladies arm. Some of the middle class illuminations show the belts buckled in the back. There is one illumination showing a belt that seems to be hooked or laced in the front with a decorative gold closure.
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Rogier van der Weyden Abegg Triptych (detail) c. 1445 (Original Image) |
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Vanity Hans Memling c. 1485 Oil on wood, 22 x 14 cm Musée des Beaux-Arts, Strasbourg (Original Image) |
The shoe worn with the “Burgundian” style gown was called a poulaine, it was a pointed shoe sometimes worn with pattens. In the picture of Marriage of Renaud de Monauban on the previous page you can see the lady is wearing a much more pointed shoe with the gown. In an image from King Renes Book of Love a woman is show wearing a short pair of boots(Unterkrcher, 25).
Pattens were a type of wooden clog worn under the shoe to protect it. Typically in the paintings and illuminations seen to create this document the shoes are shown as black or brown and the leather bands on the pattens red, black or brown.(pattens)(larsdatter)
Pouch
In some paintings women are shown wearing a small decorated drawstring pouch suspended from a long cord. The pouch hung to about the knee or mid calf on most of the wearers. This pouch is worn underneath the over gown. These pouches seem to have been decorated with embroidery or beading. A circular cut drawstring pouch would work well. When making these pouches use a separate cord to hang the pouch from the cord used to cinch the pouch shut. This will make it much easier to access the contents of the pouch.
Placket/Pièce
A contrasting piece of material was pinned to the kirtle over the lacings and worn tucked into the over gown to fill in the V-neck of the gown. In the period it was made from silk satin or velvet. This accessory is simply made from a square of material that is wide as your shoulders and long enough that it will tuck under the belt.(Scott,61)
Jewelry
Necklaces
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Tommaso Portinari and his Wife Hans Memling c. 1470 Oil on wood, 44.1 x 33,7 and 44,1 x 34 cm, respectively Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Original Image) |
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Drawing of many different styles seen in different 15th century manuscripts. |
Women of the period are often depicted wearing fanciful
necklaces with the V-necked gown. These are some very ornate examples of the
goldwork jewelry that was being produced during this period. There are also
black or gold beaded necklaces as well. The black necklaces were probably made
from black jet beads. Jet is a hard coal like substance that is easily carved,
it is still used today for jewelry.(Newman, Jet)
The beaded necklaces typically had a row of beads as a foundation and then
variations of loops beads hanging from the that supporting row. The necklace
was worn high around the neck, around the level of the collar bones.
Earrings
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Drawing of Agnes Sorrel by Jean Fouquet (b. 1420, d. ca. 1480). (Original Image) |
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Detail of the earring, a simple pearl on a wire. |
Earrings are not typically depicted in the paintings of the
time, so there is very little evidence of the ladies wearing them during this
time period. In the 15th century painters in
Rings
Rogier van der Weyden
Portrait of a Woman (detail of her hands) c. 1464
http://www.kfki.hu/~arthp/art/w/weyden/rogier/16portra/10woman.jpg
Rings were a status symbol and a
visible way to show your wealth. Many
rings could be worn on the same finger, wearing them at both the lower and
upper knuckles. Rings could be simple
bands or rings that had un-faceted set stones, ruby, sapphire and emerald being
popular.(McConnell, 15) Love rings or
“poesy” rings were also popular. These
rings had love inscriptions worked onto them, the text was usually in
French.(Newman, posey)
Extant Rings:
http://www.gtj.org.uk/item.php?lang=enamp;id=14493amp;t=1
http://www.lesenluminures.com/enluminures/rings/ntext/rings2.htm
Bibliography:
Boucer, Francois. 20,000
Years of Fashion.
Carlson, Mark http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~marc-carlson/cloth/hose.html
Crowfoot,
Elisabeth
Evans, Joan. Medieval French Dress: Oxford. Claredon Press. 1952
Encyclopedia.com http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/C/CharlesB1old.asp
Greenberg, Hope. September 2000. http://www.uvm.edu/~hag/sca/15th/
Headgear http://www.florilegium.org/files/ACCESS/headgear-msg.html
Huston, Mary. Costume in Medieval
Koslin, Desire
G.. Synder Janet E; Encountering Medieval Textiles and Dress;
Larsdatter, Karen; “Pattens and Overshoes in 15th Century Art” http://www.geocities.com/karen_larsdatter/pattens.htm
Medieval Manuscripts. Feburary 25 2005 http://www.kb.nl/kb/manuscripts/browser/index.html
Newman, Harold. An Illustrated Dictionary of Jewelry.
London.Thames and
Pattens http://people.freenet.de/mittelalterschuhe/neue_seite_55.htm
Payne, Blanche. History of Costume; Second Edition. HarperCollins Publishers Inc, 1992
Scott, Margaret. A
Visual History of Costume; The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries.
Thompson, Jennifer. Febuary 24, 2005 “The Zen of Spiral Lacing” http://homepage.mac.com/festive_attyre/research/lacing/lacing.html
Unterkrcher F; King
Renè’s Book of Love ; Le Cueur d’Amous Espris.
Virtue, Cynthia. Febuary 25 2005.” The Little Black Band: Some more wondering about how to keep the hats on”. http://www.virtue.to/articles/headband.html
Web Art: http://witcombe.sbc.edu/ARTHLinks2.html#Northern15
Word Reference, online Dictionary http://fr.wordreference.com/fr/en/translation.asp?fren=atours
