Great care needs to be taken when interpreting art to make historical clothing. There are a number of issues to consider when collecting information from art, whether it be a painting, manuscript illumination, statue or other representation.

Artistic license

One must be aware that a certain amount of artistic license may have been taken by the painter or illuminator.

This can usually be ascertained by looking at the overall style of other objects in the painting for their realism and accurate representation. Where people and animals are elongated and unusual colours, there is a good chance that the style has been carried through to household objects and clothing, making objects or clothes seem out of proportion.

Seen at left is an image from a German or Austrian manuscript, the Speculum humanae salvationis, codex sn 20612, folio 10r, which, shows clothing, but very little of the construction of it. The lines are simple and very little detail is included. The cloth seems to be drawn in under the bust, but we cannot confirm how this is done with certainly.

Artist representations of religious scenes in particular can be extremely misleading.

Often people are portrayed wearing garments which belong to a much earlier or later time period. In many 15th century paintings, saints and religious figures are painted wearing contemporary clothes, and not the clothes of their own time. Some are shown in allegorical clothing, which is fanciful and not indicative of what actual people wore.

For example, many pictures of Joan of Arc painted long after she had died, show her wearing contemporary clothing and not clothing of her own time period.

Realism in art

Many portrait artists, however, faithfully painted in great detail which is of great benefit to recreators of historical clothing today. Many paintings and illuminations when viewed with detail or with magnification, do show a great deal of seam placement, fabric drape and fastenings which are accurate representations of the time period.

In early medieval clothes, lacings are often designed to not be seen at all, so where it looks like an item is fitted, it might be either pulled on over the head and a snug fit or laced. We cannot tell which from just a picture.

The portrait of Isabelle de Portugal, duchesse de Bourgogne (shown at right) is a good example of one of the more accurate representations from the medieval period. We can see the button at er neck, the pattern of her fabric and the nap of her fur.

In this case, the subject is lifelike and the colours, linings, lacings and headwear are all painted similarly. Details like folds in the front of the gown and the transparency of her veil, give the impression we can accept that a certain standard of accuracy has been observed by the artist.

It is those kinds of works I am primarily concerned with here.

The 1442 Fouquet Portrait of the Ferrara Court Jester, at left, shows lifelife details in his grey stubble and wrinkles of the jester's face. The colours and proportions are realistic, and so can be considered a good choice for clothing study.

He has very large buttons on the front of the bodice, but a closer inspection shows that the garment was actually fastened with metal hook-and-eyes which are identical to the ones still in use today. When worn, the image would just show large buttons down the front, which we might be tempted to assume were literally large buttons with equally large buttonholes, when this painting shows us that we would be wrong.

Using art to interpret medieval clothing can be extremely misleading, but it is to these paintings, and others like them, that we can learn a great deal about medieval clothing.

Fabric drape

As any art student knows, a large proportion of early study goes into anatomy and fabric, texture and drape. Different fabrics will drape differently. To make a modern comparison, a satin formal dress will hang and drape in an altogether different way to a woolen overcoat or cotton skirt. Linen pants will wrinkle in a different way to jeans.

It is not enough to look at the seams and design without also putting time and effort into finding out what kind of fabric was likely to have been used for a particular garment being worn by a particular class of person at a particular time of year. Looking at the drape of the fabric will give an indication of the stiffness of the fabric which may provide some clues.

The image at right, a detail from a painting by van der Wieden in 1454, shows the difference in drape of the woman's frilly veil, her outer gown, and if you look carefully at the left, lower corner, the folds of her undergown.

We can also see the seams at her side, waist and a second front seam just in from the side. This is typical of late 15th century clothing, and already the renaissance fashion of the tucked neckerchief is making it's first appearances.

As you would expect, the quality of fabric would vary for different classes and would drape a little differently too. Silk came in many grades as did wool, which was easily produced by the lower classes themselves. This in no way means that the upper classes did not wear wool. It means that the quality of the wool being worn was of a far superior quality and richness to that being worn by merchants or peasants. It was finer and draped differently.

To make a modern comparison, the quality of a wool jumper bought from Kmart for $20 is in no way the same quality as one from Chanel for $400. Both the quality, tailoring, softness and drape would be of a different standard altogether.

A note on construction

I believe the tailoring of home made medieval clothing to be of a better standard than generally supposed- with all sewing done by hand, a relatively high standard of needlework would be achieved by a girl of 12- the clothing produced for the wealthy would still be of far superior tailoring.

Many historical re-enactors make the mistake of sewing rough clothing for their portrayal of the lower classes. I believe that even the poorest woman would have needed to make clothing as durable and sturdy as possible to make the clothing last, and this would not have been achieved with large uneven stitching or shoddy seams.

Even in art, the working class are shown with fabric wearing through, not tearing at the seams.

As our clothing and fabric choices vary with the seasons, it is important to remember that those who lived in the Middle Ages would also have worn lighter fabrics in the summer months and heavier ones in the winter. Not all clothing would have been lined all year round. If decorum dictated that several layers were to be worn by the upper classes, then those layers may have been light.

In winter, more clothing would have been lined where the owner could afford it. It is reasonable to say that some items of clothing may have remained lined at any time of year- similar to the way our jackets are never unlined. I would expect these to be expensive, formal overgarments which make a feature of showing off the linings with large sleeve openings like sideless surcotes. I would expect that surcotes made for the working classes to remain unlined and be of a more practical nature or lined with budget furs.

Checking sources

Care should also be taken not just to study where the seams do and don't go, but to ensure that the artwork you are working from is as close to a primary or secondary source as possible. A safe rule of thumb for general re-enactment wear, is to find at least three of the style garment before deciding it was widely worn. Only one might be more of a funky allegorical costume.

A line drawing of a copy of an effigy, for example, may lose detail each time it is redrawn. Black and white images also can be confusing as to which line belongs to which layer, thus sometimes changing the look of a garment entirely.

Remember, if you struggle to find many of the same kind of garment, it probably isn't a good representation of common clothing worn at that time.

The statuette, the Goldenes Rössl, at right, shows a very common style of men's clothing which is usually painted one colour like the Gaston Phebus manuscript detail, at left.

The style of clothing is called Grand Assiette. An existing one, made in the 14th century belonging to Charles de Blois, is now in the Musée des Tissus, Lyon, France. It is made from one type of fabric and has the arms attached to the body, which seems to be usual.

The statuette seems to indicate that instead of being the Grand Asiette pattern, the garment may have been two garments, similar to the sideless surcote which was popular with ladies. It appears that the cream fabric is stiffer and thicker by far than the fine, draped sleeves, hinting that instead of being one garment, it could be two layers of different types of fabric. Or it may be that just the sleeves are made of a different fabric and sewn on. We can not tell for sure.

For women, there are very few sources for this kind of clothing. The first is a late 15th century painting from a castle in Rychnov nad Knežnou, in the Czech Republic, The Birth of the Virgin Mary and another called the Moy Gown, which was discovered in County Clare, Ireland. It is presumed to be a woman's dress. Both have the sleeves of the same colour and sewn in.

Fine details

Another look at fabric drape and fine details when considering medieval art as a sounce for clothing reconstruction is the fresco of the baronial hall at Castello della Manta in Piedmont, Italy, painted in approximately 1411-16. The detail here (below) of the centre section of The Fountain Of Youth (detail below) although depicting a mythical event, goes into great detail showing people in various stages of undress.

Of the two chemises or smocks shown in this detail, one is a thicker opaque material which drapes less (possibly a linen and cut to a basic smock shape) and another is shown to be very sheer with many pleats (possibly fine silk gathered onto a neckline). These are both undergarments, both long and both white, yet a quick glance will show that they are two very different types of garment.

I do find the laced up kirtle at the right side rather interesting, as it seems to have a different coloured bottom to the top, yet be sewn together with a joining seam at the waist. It is laced as one down the front with spiral style of lacing. As I haven't noticed that style of dress in any other place, I feel it's possibly an undergown with costlier material on the top to show off expensive sleeves under an outer garment and a less expensive fabric on the bottom where it can't be seen.

As this is the only one I've seen, I'd not recommend it be used as a style guide, although... all of the other garments are consistant with popular styles and are shown with a reasonable amount of detail, including buttonholes, fur linings, and lacing holes on the white hose at the left bottom corner, so it could well be an actual style of garment worn in Italy at that time.

Check and double check

Among the many things to consider when doing research is the validity of the work. Whilst many old books have fabulous information and pictures, it is important to check modern thoughts, current ideas and where the information comes from initially. If things don't line up with consistancy or the sources are old, remember that they were published with the current research known at that time, which is not necessarily reflective of current knowledge of finds and research.

There are a huge number of books on medieval costuming and it must be remembered that to a large portion of the population, medieval movie costumes are same as historical medieval clothing. They are not. Just because the internet says it's medieval, it doesn't mean it is.

Paintings, manuscripts, monuments, effigies, statues and religious icons are all great places to start clothing research and the accessories that go with them. Books from museums and art catalogues are invaluable as long as you take into consideration the reason for the piece being made and the likelihood of it being an item common enough for recreating.

Copyright © Rosalie Gilbert
All text & photographs within this site are the property of Rosalie Gilbert unless stated.
Art & artifact images remain the property of the owner.
Images and text may not be copied and used without permission.