Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index


  • Record Number: 1263
  • Author(s)/Creator(s): Song , Cheunsoon and Lucy Roy Sibley
  • Contributor(s):
  • Title: The Vertical Headdress of Fifteenth Century Northern Europe [The authors surveyed works of art for evidence of women's headdresses. They classified these vertical arrangements into six types involving netting, veils, padded rolls known as "bourrelets," and tall cones. Title note supplied by Feminae.].
  • Source: Dress: Annual Journal of the Costume Society of America 16, ( 1990): Pages 4 - 15.
  • Description:
  • Article Type: Journal Article
  • Subject (See Also): Bourrelets (Padded Rolls Worn on Top of the Head) Cauls (Hairnets Worn as Headdresses) Hairstyles Headdresses Veils Women in Art
  • Award Note:
  • Geographic Area: General
  • Century: 15
  • Primary Evidence:
  • Illustrations: Fourteen figures. Figure One Modern drawing of a woman with a caul headdress. The various parts are identified. Figure Two Limbourg Brothers, Illumination depicting a young woman with a caul headdress, "Les Belles heures de Jean de Berry, 1408 or 1409 (New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Cloisters Collection, 54.1.1, fol. 191r). Figure Three Christine de Pizan presents a book to Queen Isabelle of Bavaria, 1420 (London, British Library Harley MS 4431, fol. 3). Figure Four Manuscript illumination of Lust wearing a headdress with a caul and bourrelet, "Hours of Jean Dunois," 1436 (London, British Library, Yates Thompson MS. 3, fol. 172v). Figure Five Manuscript illumination of the Countess of Westmoreland and her daughters, all wearing headdresses, Book of Hours (Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, ms. lat. 1158, fol. 34v). Figure Six Jan van Eyck, "Giovanni and Giovanna Arnolfini," 1434 (London, National Gallery). Figure Seven Close up of Giovanna Arnolfini's headdress. Figure Eight Diagram of Giovanna Arnolfini's veil layers as suggested by Margaret Scott in "Late Gothic Europe, 1400-1500." Figure Nine Author's diagrams of Giovanna Arnolfini's veil: 1) Cross-section from side of face and 2) Cross-secion of veil from front. Figure Ten Rogier van der Weyden, "An Unknown Young Woman" (Berlin-Dahlem Gemaldegalerie). Figure Eleven Seven drawings suggesting the evolution of headdresses from cauls and bourrelets. Figure Twelve Manuscript illumination of Countess Joanna of Flanders and her ladies at court as privileges are being granted to the citizens of Ghent and Flanders, 1454-1455? (Vienna, Oesterreichische Nationalbibliothek, Cod. 2583, fol. 13). Figure Thirteen Manuscript illumination of the review of helms, René of Anjou's "Livre des tournois," 1460 (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale ms. fr. 2695, fols. 67v - 68. The ladies are wearing so-called "butterfly headdresses." Figure Fourteen Master of René of Anjou, A lady receiving a book from a kneeling author, "Theseide," 1468 (Vienna, Oesterreichische Nationalbibliothek, 1468, Cod. 2617, fol. 14v). The lady is wearing a tall horned headdress.
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  • Abstract:
  • Related Resources:
  • Author's Affiliation: Ohio State University [doctoral candidate]
  • Conference Info: - , -
  • Year of Publication: 1990.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN/ISBN: 03612112