6-22-04: At long last! The Housebook
Master is here! Wouldn't you know it, just when I was getting ready to
interrogate my mail carrier about mail theft, it finally arrived. What a
great book. I can see there are some other gowns I'll be making from this.
I found a few shots I wanted to put up in association with this gown, but I
can't believe how much stuff is in this book. It actually looks to be a
good read, too, I'm terrible about just snagging the artwork and never reading
the text, but not this time, I think. So, on to the show.
This is Aristotle and Phyllis, a 1485 drypoint by
the Master. While the lesson on the foolishness of man never gets old,
there
were actually some dress details that interested me here. The treatment of
the center front pleats at the waist line seems much more defined than in the Dürer
styles, where they largely seem to fall open naturally directly from the end of
the pleat-lines. I don't think I'll mimic the waistline shown here, but I
thought it was interesting. I've seen it in a several pictures from this
book, now. The other item of interest
to me is the schaube that Phyllis is wearing. This is an accessory I'd
like to make, though not as long as hers is shown. I can make out guards
at the front opening edges and along the hem, very cool. I might have to
make a set of the chain fastenings for the schaube.
Next we have Young Girl and Old Man, another drypoint,
ca. 1475-80. This one shows a good shot of how I have decided to do my
sleeves, although I plan on making them longer, rather than the three quarter
shown here. Appendix II of the book is "Notes on Costume" by M.J.H. Madou,
and she has a few things to say about the likelihood and legality of sleeves
worn this length, but I frankly didn't find her commentary particularly
insightful in general. I think I'll just find them more comfortable if I
make them longer, so that's the plan.
This
is Young Man and Two Girls, a drypoint from 1480. This one I
thought was just an interesting juxtaposition of the two prevalent sleeve styles
for women. Except for the pleats, the girl on the right almost looks like
she's wearing a schaube, that dress is so full.
This is Departure for the Hunt, a drypoint, ca. 1485-90.
The woman with her back to us, seated on the horse to the right, has a pretty
good shot of how I will be changing my design to lower the back pleats and
emphasize the sleeve seam lines. I'm pretty excited about this change.
I'm not sure what's happening with the woman on the left, the best guess I can
offer is that she's wearing a schaube, which appears to have some fullness
pleated in somehow at the center back. Something to keep in mind for my
schaube, I don't want it to look like a drover's coat when I'm done!
This
is Lady with Radishes in her escutcheon, a 1475 drypoint. I
included this one because of the checkered pattern on her underskirt. Too
cool! Not something I'll be doing on my gown, but good to know about, for
sure.
Here we have Pair of Lovers by a Fountain, an engraving
from 1480. I included this one because I was interested to see the
treatment of this girl's neckline. There's no opening shown above the
pleats for a change, which is almost like a boat-neck or something. Yet
there appears to be one of the chain fastenings holding a garment together
underneath the gown, which I find odd. Anyway, an interesting style.
Probably not one I'd go for, but interesting.
This is Two Card Players, another 1480 engraving.
This one has another good view of the back seam lines and placement of the back
pleats, which seem even lower than in some of the other pictures I've been
looking at. She also has an interesting sleeve treatment. It
could be slashed on the top, with lacing holes along the edges of the slash,
and a seam running underneath. Again, my sleeve decisions are made at this
point, but another neat one. The men definitely have some cool slashing
arrangements on their sleeves as well, but I haven't been seeing it on the
women's sleeves.
Last, here is Standing Lovers Seen From Behind, a
silverpoint from 1485. Yet another good view of the back
seam
lines and pleats, but again, something funky is happening at the waist. It
may just be the vagaries of working in silverpoint, but the pleats appear to be
sharply controlled right down to the waist line, and the skirt almost looks like
it was separately attached. I find this arrangement unlikely, but was
interested in the depiction here. I also love the neckline of the dress
here. Is this a floral necklace? Funky jewelry? Appliquéd
decoration? Falling dags? Whatever it is, it's pretty, and seems to
be a recurring theme in these "hunting" prints. I've been assuming that
the branches and vines in people's hair and otherwise are a reflection of a
hunting theme, rather than everyday wear. I'll have to think about some
undress accessories for hunting, I guess!
6-15-04: I wanted to
put up a couple more scans I have for this dress style. I'm still waiting
for my Housebook Master, I got a note from the bookseller that the shipping
label must have fallen off my package, and the post office returned it to him.
So he's had to re-send, and I want it here NOW! Myra has posted so many
awesome images from this book, I already know I need to alter my design
sketches, grrr... Well, Tauri aren't known for their patience, I believe.
In the meantime, on the left below
is a detail from the black and white
"Calvary" by Derick Baegert that I was talking about. I like this nice
high head-dress style, too. There are a couple other places with these
pleats in this painting, I just think this black and white shows the detail
better than the color link in the earlier entry. On the right, I also came
across this 1521 altar painting copied from Dürer's "Visitation" that shows a
lively color scheme. I found this in Spät/gotische Tafel/malerei in
Sachsen, by Ingo Sandner. I'll definitely be doing an under-skirt for this
gown now, maybe in a dark green noil.
4-12-04: I really have been still working on this,
I swear! I've gotten some great feedback at GermanRen, especially from Katherine Barich. She's also given me some much needed tips on terms, too.
They also turned me on to other artists that may depict the "nuremberg" style as
well. I spent most of yesterday at Saragrace's, browsing through some great
books she snagged from ASU's library and ILL. The most definitive pic I
found was from
Early German Painting, 1350-1550, a Sotheby's catalog of The
Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection. I think I'll need to get a copy of that,
really great stuff. It was hard to stay focused on the Nuremberg dress!
Anyway, they had some black-and-whites of "Calvary" by Derick Baegert,
painted 1470-75, a paneled altarpiece in the Propsteikirche in Dortmund.
There were three female figures wearing the dress style. Saragrace found a
link to a color version online, which can be seen
here, though the resolution isn't so hot. The features I was looking at were
much clearer in the B&Ws, I'll try to get scans of those eventually, too.
Two of the figures are near the person holding the Sudarium, possibly St.
Catherine? The woman kneeling in prayer before her shows the back center
pleats like those I saw on Dürer's
The Visitation,
and the woman in green to the right of St. Catherine shows the pleats on the
front. SG also points out the figure supporting the drooping woman in
white on the right, also showing the front pleating arrangement. I was
happy with just the Dürer artwork, but it's nice to find these other instances
as well. I'll continue to keep my eyes peeled. Myra on GermanRen
also suggested several additional artists, I'm still looking through those.
For those who may have time to beat me to it, she suggests examining Sebald
Beham, Barthel Beham, Georg Pencz, Hans Suss von Kulmbachs and Hans Leonhard
Schauffleins.
4-2-04: In the course of reviewing the artwork, I
found a few interesting tidbits I'd like to incorporate into my finished
gown. I'm still brainstorming over them, but here's what I have so far from
my Dürer review. This is going to be so
exciting!
I unfortunately couldn't get a date for this portrait, still
working on that, but it's entitled Young Woman With Bound Hair, and is
thought to perhaps be the artist's sister, Katharina Frey. This is one
of the few portraits that shows the hair uncovered, this should give me some
clues about how to do up my hair and position the padded rolls for the "Wulsthaube,"
or head-coverings. I should mention that I will be using the handy list
of German costume terms from the German Ren Costume group at yahoo, to join,
go here.
I'm sure I'll be getting input from them on construction as I go along, too.
That Saragrace, just what I needed, another yahoo group! Anyway, if you
see me use any terms that look wrong, please sing out and let me know, I'm
trying to get my terminology right on the various pieces, and this is still
very new to me. So, back to the portrait. This painting shows what
I am now considering the distinctive center front pleats and string-and-button
fastening of the "Nuremberg" style. A simple smock can be seen
underneath, with gathers, or perhaps some smocking, at least over the bust
area. This smock also shows an interesting border in black on the
neckline, possibly of her name, though it doesn't look like it
here. Lots of interesting
details in this piece, and love the color, though it wouldn't look good on me.
Next, we have
The Ill-Assorted Couple, an engraving from 1495. I
also found this entitled as The Offer of Love in one book, but more often by
the first title. Again we see the center front pleating with the
string-and-button-fastening, but her smock seems more loosely fashioned, almost
ruffled, as can be seen
here. She's
also wearing some kind of
cord-belt, knotted at the side, with a draw-string
pouch. Ah, accessories. Now, let's check out those sleeves.
What are those
ball-things? Could
they possibly be bells? One can only hope! If not, this looks like
an excellent opportunity to apply that Turk's Head Knots class I took last
collegium. Notice, too, how the sleeves of the under-dress puff out the
back at the slashes. That ought to be fun to draft. And check out the
hat! Too cool, gonna have to have one of
those.
This
is The Walk, another 1495 engraving. What interested me about this
one is the combination of the obvious center front pleats and string-and-button
fastening with more
classic German
puff-and-slash details. The traditionally slashed sleeves, the ornate
border at the neckline of the outer gown, the heavy chain, even the button for
the string is pretty ostentatious. Could she be a camp follower on the way
to an assignation with her gentleman-friend? Sorry, been reading the old
posts at the GermenRenCostume group, pretty racy stuff!
Now
we have Young Couple, a 1493 pen and ink. This is another nice one
with the hair uncovered.
The padded rolls must go under the braids.
I'll be spending some time figuring that one out, I can tell. Does anyone
else need a period hairdresser? We need to get someone who does that. Saragrace sent me some links to some pictures of extant pieces at the Bildindex,
I'll get more specific when I get to that part in the construction. I like
that this one has a different configuration of what I'm still hoping are
bells. Perhaps these are on the edge of
a wrap around her shoulders? Or just a different and weird slash. So
hard to tell on the sketches. The whole sleeve looks unusual to my
inexperienced eye, anyway, the cuff is odd, or maybe the fore-sleeve is shoved
back on her arm. Nice
belt on this one, too, I found a guy online who
does period metal-work for just this kind of application, I'll have to think
about that.
This
is A Young Woman of Nuremberg Dressed for a Dance, another one I couldn't
get a good date on. The way it looks at the bottom, where she's holding up
her outer gown which has bunched up on her hip, has me wondering: can she
be wearing a kirtle under this? It's a different color than the smock.
Maybe it's a skirt, I'd swear there's no kirtle under the bodice area of the
outer gown. I'll definitely be doing my skirts at a walking length though,
rather than this long. It's too hard to carry all my stuff at events as it
is... Another good hair shot, too.
Now
here's a fancy version! This is A Nuremberg Lady Dressed to Go to a
Dance, 1500. She appears to be using a
chain fastening rather than the old string-and-button routine. Yet
another
smock style, smocked or finely gathered
all the way to the neckline. Then there's the either very clever or
magical, I can't decide which, hah,
hanging
sleeves, very beautiful in this picture, for sure. Is this going to
be the gown on which I work with fur for the first time? Probably not, but these
are still cool. And yet another awesome
hat.
Are those pleats, or layers of ruching somehow laid together? Nifty.
Not too sure about the chin covering for how it's tied on, though. If this
lady were a man, I'd tell her to grow a beard - kind of weak-chinned.
Also, do we maybe think she's pregnant? She kind of has that posture, and
that tummy is awfully pronounced...
OK, these ones are mainly about little details here and there.
The first picture, a detail from The Four Horsemen, 1498, I snagged
mainly to get a shot of the
stuff on her belt.
That was a real issue in class one day for the Flemish Dress. Accessories
and accoutrements, you know. So this shows a drawstring bag and a knife or
possibly a pair of scissors or shears. The next one, A Nuremberg Lady
in Everyday Attire, 1501, has a couple of interesting things, besides being
another possible style dress in the future. Cool jacket and gollar, huh?
Anyway, the details that caught my attention this go-round were the
pouch and the
apron. Look at all the extra
draw-string pockets tacked around the outside of the larger pouch. I have
never seen anything like it, and I will definitely be making one of these, maybe
in some thin leather. What a cool idea! It sort of reminds me of a
drawstring jewelry traveling pouch I have, but much larger and more practical.
Then there's the apron. It seems to hang around her neck, and has some
kind of tie around the ribs to help hold it in place. The pleats echo the
pleated outer gown in the more formal attire. I saw this again in Dancing Peasants, an engraving from 1514,
and Lonnie sent me
this link showing how it possibly is two pieces, also covering the back and
tied on the sides, as seen on the lady in the lower left corner. Next I
have a detail from The Visitation, 1506. This shows several
interesting tidbits, the most prominant of which is the repeat of the center
front pleats onto the back. How cool is that? She also
appears to be wearing some kind of kirtle or skirt, this time fur trimmed or
lined, very nice, and she also has some interesting instruments hanging from her
belt. And a gollar. The last picture, A Woman of Nuremberg and
One of Venice, is in here just because I felt like this little photo essay
wouldn't be complete without it! Whew! Who knew there would be so
much to consider?
e
were actually some dress details that interested me here. The treatment of
the center front pleats at the waist line seems much more defined than in the Dürer
styles, where they largely seem to fall open naturally directly from the end of
the pleat-lines. I don't think I'll mimic the waistline shown here, but I
thought it was interesting. I've seen it in a several pictures from this
book, now. The other item of interest
to me is the schaube that Phyllis is wearing. This is an accessory I'd
like to make, though not as long as hers is shown. I can make out guards
at the front opening edges and along the hem, very cool. I might have to
make a set of the chain fastenings for the schaube.
