Beginning in the 12th century, Arab physicians began to prescribe their patients a most unorthodox remedy: the ground remains of mummies procured from Egyptian tombs.
Mummy powder proved so profitable that soon after its introduction, Egyptian tombs were ransacked not only for the riches they might contain, but also for bodies that might be processed into the expensive folk medicine. It wasn’t long before the practice of applying mummy powder was incorporated into medieval Europe’s catalog of dubious medical practices. By the 16th century, the product had become so commonplace in both Europe and the Middle East that the once seemingly endless supply of authentic, mummified Egyptian cadavers quite literally dried up.
Mummy powder, however, was not the only everyday use of the Egyptian dead that arose before the dawn of modern archaeological preservation. In the 16th and 17th centuries, pulverized mummy was the key ingredient in a popular shade of brown artist’s pigment, and preserved human and animal remains of Egyptian origin were used in the production of this “mummy brown” paint until the early 20th century.
Whether this statement was merely jest on the part of the American literary icon, well known for his sense of humor, has been the subject of debate ever since it was published. What is known, however, is that the supply of authentic Egyptian corpses by the beginning of the 1800s was so small only that upper crust Europeans could afford to purchase one whole. In the wake of Napoleon’s conquest of Egypt, it became vogue amongst the aristocracy to hold “unwrapping parties,” where carefully preserved corpses would be haphazardly stripped of their bandages, so that revelers could gaze upon the millennia-old face concealed beneath them. Small burial ornaments concealed in the linens would then be dispensed to partygoers as souvenirs, while exposure to air caused the delicate bodies to crumble into dust, never to be seen again.
Changes in clothing styles in the middle ages were not very dramatic until the mid-13th century when the tunic styles that had dominated both men’s and women’s wardrobes began to diversify and manifest unique designs. A dramatic shift in artwork during this same medieval period, when fashion essentially began its history, reflects the changes of those times. What Giorgio Vasari, the Renaissance art historian, classified as Gothic Art offers us images caught in time of a movement and energy that encapsulated the end of the middle ages.
Gothic art evokes the great cathedrals of France and Germany to the modern viewer, but Gothic sculpture, and particularly the forms explicit in the Gothic aesthetic, tell a lot about the time period’s aspirations and visions of itself. If Gothic architecture was reflective of people’s Christian ideals, with spires reaching for the heavens and stained glass windows channeling God’s light through the chambers of the church, then Gothic sculpture was charged with the restlessness and flamboyance of the period. Whereas the Romanesque aesthetic in sculpture that preceded it was marked by rigidity and stoic beauty, Gothic sculpture broke free literally and figuratively.
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Gothic sculptures seen decorating the facades of Gothic cathedrals were novel in that they were no longer set into the walls of the buildings but actually stood apart as three-dimensional entities in their own power. With this freedom from structure came also a freedom in style. The flow and draping of clothing on sculptured figures from this time period suddenly manifest a firmness combined with vibrancy that suggest something irrepressible. One has to imagine that this was true of the spirit of the time period, too. Towards the end of the 12th and during the 13th centuries, Europe was opening up and through pilgrimages, the crusades and burgeoning textile and commercial industries, with more | |||||||||||
| established trade routes, the world was becoming more accessible to the common villager. The vibrance of the period and the newfound luxury of textiles and adornment that would help establish the romance of the courtly lifestyle can be seen in Gothic sculptures, whether images of the Virgin Mary or images of contemporary historical figures. Gowns are shown in full, enveloping folds and charged with a new dimensionality that paid tribute to the mounting changes in medieval society and to the fantasy of courtly life. | ||||||||||||
IMAGES:
*Gothic Sculpture, French Virgin and Child c. 1330, Stone Notre-Dame, Paris
*Naumberg Cathedral; Margrave Ekkehard of Meissen and his wife Uta West Choir, Naumburg Cathedral, ca. 1249-1255
Tags: 12th century, 13th century clothing, Basic Sallet Helmet, Battle Bardiche, Classic Medieval Sword, gothic, Gothic aesthetic, Gothic Art, Gothic Sculpture, medieval, Medieval Breastplate Display, Medieval European trade, Medieval History, Medieval Store, middle ages, The Crusades, The Renaissance
Embellishment in clothing and costume in many ways reached a zenith in the Europe of the 15th and 16th centuries when outfits were characterized by a longer-style garment for formal occasions and a shorter, more tailored style for daily wear. The style of the shorter garments, which in men’s clothing was comprised of the doublet (short, fitted button-down top) and the trunk hose (covering the lower body to mid-thigh), was also largely influenced by innovations in armor. The longer style garment, a holdover from Roman styles in drapery, was an elegant alternative and retained its place for ceremonial occasions.
The courtly life and the romantic notions linked to the world of knights-errant and ladies of the court created an arena for lavish details in costume, such as dagged (shaped, rounded) edges to garments, long pointed tips to sleeves that would sometimes be so long as to drag on the ground, jeweled knights’ helmets, scalloped waists, fur-trimmed gowns, lace collars, cushioned and creased sleeves, embellished sashes, densely embroidered patterns on silk as well as highly ornamented engravings on armor that echoed patterns on cloth. The extravagance was also translated to etching patterns on armor: etchings made on armor plates were sometimes so intricate as to reflect patterns recognizable from damask, or the rich patterning of exotic silks, and would also in some cases reflect flourishes in form such as slashed sleeves. It was a trend during the 15th and 16th centuries to ‘slash’ the sleeves of the doublet, which served to echo wounds in battle, and allow an under layer of cloth to protrude through the outer layer.
