Goldhaube update

So I decided to start on the goldhaube I've been meaning to do for a while. I took a shortcut and used the semi-circle that I cut out at the early stages of my whitehaube. I have since couched on gold cord (acquired from Spotlight one Christmas). As you can see from the image below, couching perpendicular to the direction of the cord (cord on right running diagonally down to the right) resulted in a cord that sort of squiggled. After couching three cords thinking I'd improve with practice (it's my first time, see?) I changed my approach. I ended up couching along the twist of the cord. This has the benefit that it's harder to pick out my threads and the cords run straighter.

I then sewed on glass pearls to the junctions of the gold cord. It's nice to have a project where I can finally use the glass pearls I bought from Sunrise last time I was in Qld. During the pearling, I over-couched some of the more wibblie cords.

I've also stitched down the rounded edge (not shown) to cover the ends of the gold cord.

Things left to do:

~ apply some form of band decoration, either with pearls or a chain of gold circles.

~ sew down the back band over the gold cord ends

~ gather the back band, securly

~ add some loops or something to help me pin this to my hair (though, I suspect if my hair is up in two buns, I won't need to pin the haube on)

Goldhaube

I've started thinking about making a goldhaube to go with my Cranach Gown (even though I haven't completed it yet). I've discussed haube creation in a previous post when attempting to construct a whitehaube. I've been toying with the idea of making something like the haube in figure 1. A beaded or gold net over golden fabric. Very classical Cranach. However, when tooling around on the National Gallery website today I found figure 2. An image of a small girl wearing a beautiful gold haube. It was painted Jakob Selsenegger who was an Austrian painter so not all that far from Cranach's hub of inspiration

The Goldhaube's band is decorated with pearls, like many of those featured in Cranach portraits. This however is very clearly a crochet net rather than a cloth bag with netting overlaid. The knots are quite exquisite and probably far out of my skill range - for now. The haube also seems to sit closer to her head and rides high above the neck. I think that will be the biggest challenge of crocheting this peice.

Figure 1: Portrait of a Woman. Lucas Cranach the Elder. 1525. The National Gallery. Detail of Goldhaube.

Figure 2. Portrait of a Girl. 1545-1550, Jakob Selsenegger. The National Gallery. Detail of Goldhaube.

Brustflect / Cranach Gown research cont.

Portrait of a Woman - Detail about 1525, Lucas Cranach the Elder

This image clearly shows golden loops where the black lacing ties the bodice together. The lace seems to start on the right of the dress (left of the image) and laces back and forth until finally disappearing under the right side of the skirt.

Cranach gown brustflect construction - an analysis

I'm still trying to work out how to construct a Cranach gown 'properly'. I've found some higher resolution images of some of the Cranach women which is helping in my task.

The Brustflect

	1 - Jesus with Mary & saints Catherine & Barbara & 2 cherubs – Detail Highlighted here in green, the brustflect seems to join the right of the bodice snugly (A) while on the left the shading may suggest that the bodice overlaps the brustflect (B). The embroidery also seems to stop at the right but continue under the bodice at the left. At the bottom of the brustflect (C), shading indicates the guards on the dress overlie the opaque white fabric.
	2 - The suicide of Lucretia. In this image the brustflect has been folded down however the folding at A suggests the opaque fabric continues around her body but it seems to run under the guard. At B we can see the decorative part of the brustflect is attached directly to the opaque white fabric and would continue down to meet the skirt (C). The Brustflect and opaque white marterial seem to be a single unit and run under the guards of the dress.
	3 - Lucretia (1512). In this image we can see the Brustflect (A) has been folded down to bare her breasts. This brustflect is golden on the back rather than white (maybe because Cranach wanted to highlight then opened dress rather than have the panel blend into the excessive levels of white). There are strong black ties which would be the waist chinching ties seen on many Cranach gowns. I first thought these were tying the brustflect on and the pearled trim was the brustflects decorative trim. Closer examination shows the pearled trim is part of the dress guard as it runs straight from her shoulder. It is also possible to see lighter ties (C) that appear to come from the brustflect. These ties are too thick to be part of the fur and run against the grain in some locations. These images somewhat contradict each other, it may be that one side of the brustflect is pinned or sewn in place while the other is pinned or tied.

Chemise / underdress

	1- Jesus with Mary & saints Catherine & Barbara & 2 cherubs – Detail Here we clearly see two different fabrics, the translucent chemise (D) and the opaque white fabric below the brustflect. The skirt seems to join the bodice at C and shadows at A suggests the bodice overlies the opaque white (chemise?). It is not clear at B if the white is separate to the skirt, an underdress, or joined as a stomacher.
	2- The suicide of Lucretia (1529). In this image the brustflect has been folded down however the folding at A suggests the opaque fabric continues around her body but it seems to run under the guard. At B we can see the decorative part of the brustflect is attached directly to the opaque white fabric and would continue down to meet the skirt (C).
	3 - Judith with the Head of Holofernes (1537 – 1540) Here we see the white opaque material has been trimmed with tiny pearls and pleated in a ruffle on the top of the brustflect. On the basis of these images, I would propose the brustflect is most likely attached to the opaque fabric and the combination is used as a supporting garment under the main gown. I would suggest that it is attached on either side with pins much like the tudor gown outlined in Patterns of Fashion by Janet Arnold.

Chemise Neckline?

	1- Mary Magdalene, 1525. A number of the Cranach women have been painted with sloping black lines over their breast. It has been suggested that this is the neckline of a translucent chemise however in many of the images (like the one opposite) there is no discernable change in skin tone nor is the
	2 - Jesus with Mary & saints Catherine & Barbara & 2 cherubs – Detail The Chamise: In this image two parallel lines curve over Catherine’s chest (A). Her skin tone between these lines (B) is pink suggesting this is the collar of a translucent chemise (there are also wrinkles near her armpits where it tucks into the brustflect). It’s unlikely that the fabric would change at the bust line from translucent to opaque as the translucent fabric doesn’t seem structural enough to support the opaque fabric.
	3 - Saint Dorothea, 1530. Here Dorothea has a simple black ribbon looped around her neck. This is clearly not the edge of a chemise as it loops around itself multiple times. John Thrupp in “The Anglo-Saxon Home: A History of the Domestic Institutions and Customs of England” proposes that ribbons embroidered with prayers would be worn around the neck. While his book covers a period earlier than the Cranach dresses and of a different culture, it strikes me that a majority of the women wearing the ribbons wear simpler dresses. I’ve also noticed that when I wear a longer chain it does tend to get wedged in the top of my breasts and the chain forms an arc similar to that seen in the top image. Some of the Cranach women, i.e. Duchess Katharina von Mecklenburg are painted wearing a chain that drapes over their breasts a lot like the ribbon seen in 1.

Haube

So I need to make appropriate headwear to go with my Cranach gown. I've made the snood but it really needs a gold-haube inside it or as part of it. While  I have the perfect gold silk, I'm really really not willing to cut it up unless I know what I'm doing... which I don't. So I decided to make an experimental haube.

 Figure 1: Goldhaube detail from Ill matched Lovers (unequal couple) by Lucas Cranach the Elder 1528.

Step 1: Pattern

I spent an age online trying to find a pattern for a goldhaube, or really any haube. Nothing. There are many descriptions of what I call the sausage hats depicted in many german portraits (and some Cranach portraits too) but nothing of the Cranach snood-esk headwear. The best two references I could find were a blog written in german which suggests using a half oval who's diameter (long side) is the circumference of your head, and who's radius is the distance from forehead to nape of neck. Another blog (in english) discusses something similar but she used this as a pattern for St Bridgets headwear so had ties that looped around the head.

So I made a pattern as suggested and tried to see if it would fit.

The pattern with allowance for the embroidered forehead band.	Attempt at fitting paper pattern side.	Fitting paper pattern back.

Step 2: Cut out of fabric, overlock/surge, iron and pin hems
I used the same fabric my dress was made out of so it'd match.

 

Step 3: Realise that if haube experiments are created out of pink fabric there needs to be a net or snood over the top. This would require tacking a net of gold cord onto the snood. Too much work for an experimental haube. New plan!

 

Figure 2: White-haube detail from Amorous old woman and young man by Lucas Cranach the Elder 1522.

Step 4: Repeat step two with white cotton fabric (ex-bedsheet). Cheat on wide forehead band by utilising pre-sewn edge of sheet. Machine sew folded edges.

Step 5: Measure and mark points along flat side (back) of haube every centimeter and gather.

Step 6: Check fit

Front: good fit and feels snug, but shows more fringe than most goldhaube images	Side: Doesn't drip down the back of the neck like many snoods. If I had more hair, bundled higher on my head I suspect it wouldn't project as far either.	Back: Sits higher on the neck but doesn't expand out the side of the head much. This may be because I don't have much hair to cover and I haven't made buns to the side of my head, rather looped up two braids.

Over assessment: rather happy with the fit. I'm not sure how I'll fasten this, I can add a tie to the gathered section so the haube can change size as I grow more hair or I can add a clip which would ensure that it doesn't loosen during wear.

EDIT: Over christmas, unhappy with the simple gathering, I replaced it with my first ever attempt at smocking. Smocking stretches quite a bit and doesn't gather as tightly as I'd like. Future attempts will gather the back at points greater than 1cm to ensure more gather in a smaller space and I might avoid smocking for haubes.

Brustflect designs illuminated

An example of a gold brustflect with a blackwork floral design. The blackwork design is matched by the design on the guards of the dress except in the case of portraits of Katharina von Bora. (Mary Magdalene, Cranach the Elder, 1525)

An example of a gold on gold brustflect. These are typically made of a floral brocade. Some of the brustflects have a dark edging, some are adorned with pearls along the top edge. (Young man and old woman with girl, 1545-1550)

Pearl work on gold with a central motif and floral work / spirals. Motif is different than that depicted on dress guards. (Salome, Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1530).

An example of pearlwork on gold mounted on black. The pearls in these brustflects appear to have been mounted on black cord, or surrounded by blackwork. (Portrait of a Young Woman, Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1530)

An example of pearlwork on gold, diamond shapes without a central motif. These diamonds also have a sort of star or knot design at the junctions of the diamonds. Typically these brustflects are made of a different fabric than the guards.