Short over long gowns (David & Bethsabée)
Before I work on that list, there is something that has made me excited about early Tudor stuff, well, besides the latest new book.
I went and ILL'd the French book "la tenture de David & Bethsabée" by Guy Delmarcel which I picked up this afternoon. It is a book on the recently restored tapestry series David & Bathsheba done in one of the museums in France. The book is in French but I'm mostly interested in the images.
And man, the images are wonderful! The tapestry series was created in the early part of the 16th century, possibly 1510-15, and was created in Brussels. It is possible, according to this French site, that the tapestries were created for Henry VIII, although it is not noted on the tapestry as such. However, a Venetian ambassador is noted as admiring a tapestry set of David while visiting the king.
My plan is to scan as many of the images as I've got time for before the book is returned. My focus will be on the few images of women among the tapestry, and hopefully some of the men. There are lots more men in the story. Taking a look through the images, most of the men are wearing what is already known in the fashion style of the period. The women... well, some are wearing the more commonly known styles, and some are wearing things I once considered allegorical fantasy - but now I'm thinking maybe they were more mainstream than I once thought, or maybe just Flemish centric (although some parts do remind me of Germanic bonnets). Granted some of the characters are obviously allegorical with angel wings and other signs, but the background characters are wearing things while standing or sitting among the more commonly dressed folks, so it is hard to say for sure.
To give you an example, I've taken a couple of quick photos of one of the images. The women are in various styles of gowns, but their headdresses are mostly very odd! One woman is wearing a style of hood I've seen in illuminations already on my web site.
But what really caught my eye is one woman is wearing that uncommon short gown, worn over a long tunic of contrasting color. And her sleeves are similar to what men wear from the time period which I've not seen in an image of the period before (but had read somewhere that some women wear men's style gowns). I am very, very tempted to recreate this outfit sometime, although I think the pearls along the trim are huge.
Click twice on the images to view larger versions.
David & Bathsheba, plate VI.5
Photo showing most of the women in this detail plate of one of the tapestries. The woman wearing a "normal" hood is the one that is glowing from reflected light.
David & Bathsheba, plate VI.5
Focused more on the woman wearing a short gown over a long kirtle on the left. Both women appear to have blackworked smocks!
I have been collecting images of short gowns over long kirtles on my hard drive for awhile. One that is already in my LJ Research collection is this one, for comparison. And Jane Malcolm-Davis has one effigy woman wearing similar short over long style, but in the more typical Tudor fashion otherwise. (Click here and view image at the bottom.)
Oenone taking the letter from Paris
Français 874, fol. 141. Image #29 of 46
And here I thought I wouldn't find something to research further. ;-)
I am wondering what sort of written records can be found to clarify these images, and if these odd styles were more European, Germanic, Flemish or what? It will be interesting to delve into this, but that will be in the future. Gotta say it is nice to know that there seems to be more variety in the fashions of the early 16th century.
I went and ILL'd the French book "la tenture de David & Bethsabée" by Guy Delmarcel which I picked up this afternoon. It is a book on the recently restored tapestry series David & Bathsheba done in one of the museums in France. The book is in French but I'm mostly interested in the images.
And man, the images are wonderful! The tapestry series was created in the early part of the 16th century, possibly 1510-15, and was created in Brussels. It is possible, according to this French site, that the tapestries were created for Henry VIII, although it is not noted on the tapestry as such. However, a Venetian ambassador is noted as admiring a tapestry set of David while visiting the king.
My plan is to scan as many of the images as I've got time for before the book is returned. My focus will be on the few images of women among the tapestry, and hopefully some of the men. There are lots more men in the story. Taking a look through the images, most of the men are wearing what is already known in the fashion style of the period. The women... well, some are wearing the more commonly known styles, and some are wearing things I once considered allegorical fantasy - but now I'm thinking maybe they were more mainstream than I once thought, or maybe just Flemish centric (although some parts do remind me of Germanic bonnets). Granted some of the characters are obviously allegorical with angel wings and other signs, but the background characters are wearing things while standing or sitting among the more commonly dressed folks, so it is hard to say for sure.
To give you an example, I've taken a couple of quick photos of one of the images. The women are in various styles of gowns, but their headdresses are mostly very odd! One woman is wearing a style of hood I've seen in illuminations already on my web site.
But what really caught my eye is one woman is wearing that uncommon short gown, worn over a long tunic of contrasting color. And her sleeves are similar to what men wear from the time period which I've not seen in an image of the period before (but had read somewhere that some women wear men's style gowns). I am very, very tempted to recreate this outfit sometime, although I think the pearls along the trim are huge.
Click twice on the images to view larger versions.
David & Bathsheba, plate VI.5
Photo showing most of the women in this detail plate of one of the tapestries. The woman wearing a "normal" hood is the one that is glowing from reflected light.
David & Bathsheba, plate VI.5
Focused more on the woman wearing a short gown over a long kirtle on the left. Both women appear to have blackworked smocks!
I have been collecting images of short gowns over long kirtles on my hard drive for awhile. One that is already in my LJ Research collection is this one, for comparison. And Jane Malcolm-Davis has one effigy woman wearing similar short over long style, but in the more typical Tudor fashion otherwise. (Click here and view image at the bottom.)
Oenone taking the letter from Paris
Français 874, fol. 141. Image #29 of 46
And here I thought I wouldn't find something to research further. ;-)
I am wondering what sort of written records can be found to clarify these images, and if these odd styles were more European, Germanic, Flemish or what? It will be interesting to delve into this, but that will be in the future. Gotta say it is nice to know that there seems to be more variety in the fashions of the early 16th century.