Blogging Kalamazoo Session 15: Dress and Textiles I: Saints, Sinners, and Fools

Thursday 10:00

Sponsor: DISTAFF (Discussion, Interpretation, and Study of Textile Arts, Fabrics, and Fashion)

Dress and Textiles for an Unlikely Saint: Edward the Confessor

Gale R. Owen-Crocker, Univ. of Manchester

A brief background on Edward’s life and how he was reframed as a “saintly” king.  He left a wealth of textile evidence for his reign, both textual descriptions and fragments surviving in his tomb.  References to Queen Edith embroidering his clothes herself, or designing the embroideries, added to his vita in the 12th century. Contrast of descriptions of sumptuous clothing with claims that he was modest and unpretentious (but this framing is more reflective of the later medieval attitudes). The depiction of Edward in the Bayeux Tapestry is consistent with the description of his garments as sumptuously embroidered. Always depicted in long garments.  Silk fragments are preserved from the 19th century opening of Edward’s tomb. In design, the silk is similar to contemporary garments of Pope Clement II and others.  Edward’s tomb was opened on multiple occasions over the centuries for transfer to new locations, and typically the existing shroud was removed and replaced with a new cloth. The removed cloths were then distributed to other locations as relics. Edward’s image then appears on later textiles, especially opus Anglicanum embroideries, with the surviving examples being church vestments. He was depicted as the builder of Westminster Abbey (holding a model of the building) or with imagery relating to his miracles, such as giving a ring to a beggar who turns out to be St. John the Evangelist. These embroideries were distributed internationally and helped maintain his cult. 14th century and later depictions show him in sumptuous garments, but those of the era of the work, not historic representations. Just as Edward’s life was reimagined as holy, his image was continually reimagined according to the fashions of the times.

Thread and Blood: Christ’s Woven Body in John Lydgate’s Life of Our Lady

Anna McKay, Univ. of Edinburgh

Images of the virgin as a textile worker establish textile work as a metaphor of the production of Jesus. Paper looks at the image of the Virgin as weaver in John Lydgate.  Protevangelium of James (2nd century) establishes a tradition of Mary as weaver of the temple veil. It is in the context of spinning thread for the holy purpose that she receives the annunciation. The fabric is scarlet and purple, representing blood (incarnation) and imperial rank. This motif is taken up in other texts, depicting Mary as fleece to be turned into woolen cloth to clothe the shepherd, (Proclus of Constantinople)., Mary as weaver in the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew. Lydgate’s The Life of Our Lady (ca. 1416) depicts Mary working with gold, silk, and wool as a parallel with prayer. There is an extensive description of how her work with purple silk is because it is appropriate for a king, showing her worthiness to be mother of Christ. The text follows with an explicit description of Christ as a woven purple cloth. The image of Mary taking materials provided by God and using them to weave Christ reverses the Aristotelian theory of procreation, which viewed the mother as providing raw matter and the father as providing the creative shaping force.

Sinners in Fancy Dress: Christ’s Tormentors in English Medieval Alabasters

Susan L. Ward, Rhode Island School of Design

Alabaster relief carvings of Christ’s passion often juxtapose the simply clad Christ (in only a loincloth) with fashionably dressed tormenters. The fashions depicted in this genre of carvings reflect contemporary styles and thus can be used to date the carvings. A brief historic context of the production of alabaster religious carvings. The large number of these genre scenes produced in 15th century England provide a statistically useful sample for analysis. [Much of the discussion relies on images presented as a slide show.] The fashions in the alabasters are compared to manuscript images of fashionable clothing, discussing many details that are characteristic of specific date ranges. Alabaster carvings were originally painted in polychrome style, and in a very few cases where traces of paint remain, the tormenters are painted to have darker skin than the Christ figure. The “soldiers” in these scenes wear garments that are more sumptuous than their occupations would imply.  Suggestion that the garments may be intended to indicate livery, suggesting they are part of a noble household (Pilate). Another theory is that the high-fashion outfits are intended to indicate foreign status, as elaborate clothing is sometimes used in art to indicate foreign origin. Alternately the elaborate clothing may be intended to represent their identity as Jews, although there are no specific symbolic indicators of this identity. But in counter-argument, alabaster genre scenes of the adoration of the Magi depict the Magi (and often the Virgin as well) in elaborately fashionable clothing. So fashion was not universally a negative signifier. This makes the depiction of the tormenters more ambiguous. Final conclusion: fashionable clothing more likely to be sign of contemporaneity rather than any value judgment.

Fashion and Folly in the Table of the Seven Deadly Sins

John Block Friedman, Ohio State Univ.; Melanie Schuessler Bond, Eastern Michigan Univ.

The painting on the table top is from the school of Hieronymous Bosch, ca. 1505, and depicts religious topics in the characteristic style of his allegorical paintings and depictions of everyday activities. There is doubt that Bosch himself painted the work. The sings are depicted through fashion and accessories and shown as having social consequences rather than relying on stereotypical hellfire. The talk focuses on how the clothing and accessories are used to create the symbolic imagery for each sin. For example, in “envy” the subject of the envy is depicted as an idle fashionable man carrying a falcon, a common symbol of leisure, with another pair of figures showing a young man courting an obviously married woman. “Pride” shows a woman arranging her headdress in front of a mirror held by a devil who wears the same style. The furnishings include expensive glass, ceramic, and jeweled objects. But the headdress itself reflects a somewhat outdated fashion, as does the expensive gown. She is mocked as being proud while lacking the substance to be genuinely proud of. “Lust” is depicted with two pairs of lovers in a pavilion one couple wearing slightly outdated fashions and engaging in a chin-chuck interaction, the other reclining and sharing a drink. The woman’s headdress suggests she is married (implying adultery) and the man’s lack of an over-garment suggests slight undress. The scene is completed with the figure of a fool as counterpoint representing crude sexuality and folly. The combination of a fool watching a pair of (copulating) lovers is found in other contemporary art. Overall, the use of opulent and fashionable --but somewhat outdated--details mocks the participants engaging in the sins.