Further Vestments As Seen in Art

"The Pontifical Mass," by Antoine Le Nain, 17th cent.

Seeing vestments in sacred art provides us with an opportunity to witness the types of vestments -- the shape of the vestments, the textiles that were used used and any ornamentation employed -- at a particular period of history. Anyone familiar with the artistic process of painting will know that typically painters need to use models from which to paint. This means at some point they likely have had a particular vestment physically in front of them from which to base their work to get the best and most realistic possible output. In short, artists (at least from these earlier periods) paint what they see and paint what people are accustomed to seeing, and as such, it gives us a very nice historical insight into what was liturgically going on at a given time.

Obviously paintings are also typically of important subjects -- though not always -- and in that regard we tend to get the most ornate examples of vestments in a given period, but that too is fine because the most ornate examples tend to tell us what the 'ideal' was in a given time. 

We have done a few passes at this topic before and today's installment will follow the same model. We will give you the date of the paintings in question to help you identify that the vestments portrayed are least that old (or likely older).  So with out further ado, some further vestments as seen in art.

"Saint Roderick of Cordoba," by Bartolome Esteban Murillo, ca.1650-55.
This shows and one of the more ample forms of the Spanish cut. The style is most certainly indictative of Renaissance tastes with its use of velvet and an embroidered orphrey with various figures of saints. 

"St. Gregory the Great," by Francisco de Zurbarán y Salazar, 17th cent. 

"Portrait of St Nicholas," by Jacques de Poindre, 1563.

"Portrait of Abbot Nicholas à Spira," by Jacques de Poindre, 1563.

"Saint Siffrein,"Anonymous, 1450.
The chasuble here appears to be either bell-shaped or semi-conical in form.

"Portrait Of Jacob Goverts," by Philippe de Champigny, 1650.
A canon wearing a surplice from the period (note the almuce over his arm).

"St. Lawrence," by Luis Fernández, 1632.
A dalmatic in the Spanish cut.

"William of Wykeham," by Sampson Strong, ca.1550–1611.

"Portrait of a Clergyman," by Franz Denys, ca. 1640.

"St. Julian in Pontifical Attire," anon., 1567.
A cope in the classic Renaissance "a griccia" motif, but in a beautiful green and gold combination.

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