All posts filed under: Learn

Tell me about the early 14th century

If you read my blog a lot you may realise that the areas between the 5th and 17th centuries are basically a costuming black hole for me. I’ve done barely any work in that period, and a correspondingly brief amount of research. I know about textiles from the ‘Dark Ages’ and Medieval period, but my knowledge of the clothing is pretty basic. But now I have a reason to tackle the Middle Ages – specifically the early 14th century in England. Think 1310-1330. (Sorry, can’t tell you what the reason is yet). I do know that sometimes the trick to knowledge is not actually knowing the stuff, but knowing where to find the information. I have a lot of leads, but I also know that there are a lot more out there. So, dear readers, who among you does late 13th and early 14th century costuming? What are your favourite resources for that period? Expand my knowledge! Update: I’m mostly interested in men’s clothes – commoners, lower grades of knights, jesters, mercenaries, and maybe a …

Saints heads

Published by The Dreamstress

These early 16th century reliquary busts of saints in the collections of the Cloisters both intrigued and repulsed me. I love the women’s serene faces, their elaborate hairstyles and meticulously rendered clothes. I’m amazed by how precise the carving is, and how vivid the colours some 500 years later. They are such beautiful, unique, examples of what was admired and desirable in women in late Renaissance Belgium. At the same time, I can’t get past what they are: reliquary boxes. Containers for holding human remains: the skulls and other bones of saints. There are little doors in the top of the heads so that they could open the heads on feast days. I presume that the bones were removed long before the busts made it to the Cloisters, but I still have trouble adjusting my beliefs on how human remains should be treated with the attitudes and customs of the Renaissance Catholic Church. It’s another example of how my aesthetic attraction to the past constantly makes me consider and question my modern beliefs and attitudes, …

French queens and the fleur-de-lys – part 2

Published by The Dreamstress

Following on from last week’s post, Anne and Marie were far from being the only French queens to wear blue fleur de lys dresses (which may or may not have incorporated at least part of the same garments) Margaret of Valois, the first wife of Henry IV of France (Marie de Medici was his second), was one: And two generations before her, Claude of France, the mother in law of the infamous Catherine de Medici, was painted in a fleur de lys cloak. It is unclear, however, if the painting was commissioned during her life, or during Catherine de Medici’s, so the cloak may not be historical. Skipping forward in time, Anne’s daughter in law, Marie Therese of France, was painted in a dress with a modified fluer de lys bodice (possibly the same, or at least partly the same, as the dress worn by Anne in 1646). In contrast to the rivalry shown in Anne and Marie de Medici’s portraits, Marie -Therese’s painting is probably meant to honour her mother in law, with whom …