In the Wallace Collection there is a painting depicting Saint Roch by Carlo Crivelli c1480 with a lot of excellent clothing details. My best educated guesses about this clothing follow, along with some questions that occur to me.
View Saint Roch by Carlo Crivelli in the Wallace Live Online Collection or you’ll have no idea what I’m on about.
Body linens – Camicia et Mutande
The first layer worn is the camicia, a linen shirt, gathered in small folds and tucked into the mutande (underpants). The camicia is also visible as a thin, careful and even line peeking out of the collar. This artful layering of collars is a hallmark of Italian fashion of the time.
Tucking the camicia into the mutande is not necessarily intuitive to the modern re-enactor, as there are presumably fairly large ‘tails’ of camicia at the front and back that will be subject to much more soiling within the mutande than if left untucked. This might be done to facilitate showing the iconic thigh wound, but this is also serious religious artwork made for an audience that needed to keep a straight face, not immediately burst into laughter at first sight of the ‘shirt tucked into undies’.
The mutande are unremarkable in comparison to other depictions, including the creases around the thigh at the leg opening, the fact that all of the waistband pleating is in the front panel and the half bow in fine white cord securing centre front.
Doublet – Farsetto
The farsetto is painted in a terracotta orange colour. The collar and foresleeves are closely quilted, as with the extant Malatesta farsetto. The collar is carefully tailored to sit evenly with the camicia and mantello.
The sleeves notably finish several finger-widths back from the wrist joint, much shorter than a modern shirt or jacket. Like the collar, the camicia is carefully arranged to show a thin band at the wrist.
The wrist fastening is indistinct in the painting. There is a thin gap in the closure showing a glimpse of shirt and what appears to be two small perpendicular lines. It’s possible that these are white laces, but I would expect a few small buttons, based on similar artwork.
The bottom of the farsetto is a good 2-3 fingers higher than the waistband of the mutande, but well below the belted waist.
No more is seen of the farsetto, but I would expect it to have a full upper sleeves set into high armholes and to be a structured garment shown in the art of Piero della Francesca and others.
Hose – Calze
The hose, or calze, are painted in terracotta colour as the farsetto. They are separate stockings for each leg, with white lining, presumably linen, from the waistband and likely extending to the mid thigh or knee. There are 4 eyelets at the hip, each carrying its own point lace finished with short brass aiglets. Having a point lace per hole is surprising, with one lace per pair of holes being more commonly depicted. It’s a great shame that we can’t see these laces tied in place on the other hip. The eyelets are not clearly depicted going further around the front or back of the waistband as on other depictions. The square point that would sit at centre back has no depicted way of holding it up. The folds suggest quite a light wool with a soft drape and the strain lines around the ankle suggest an integral sock or stirrup under the foot.
Shoes – Scarpe
The saint’s shoes are ankle boots with an instep buckle closure. The fine lines on the in side suggest an Exeter Js (angled) cutting pattern per Volken’s Archaeological Footwear
The pale line around the edge of the sole is extremely interesting. It suggests an outsole, or perhaps a welt seam construction. Both techniques appear in archaeology but are not common in art.
Coat – Pellanda
The pellanda is shown with a blue/green exterior and green lining. The neckline doesn’t show, suggesting it is the same or larger than the mantello collar.
No structure of quilting, padding or stitching is evident, the lining seems to be plain cloth of wool or cotton, based on the vibrant colour.
The pellanda buttons to the waist, has 3/4 length sleeves with wide cuffs and buttons from, presumably, the neck to the waist with small buttons.
The bottom hem falls 3-4 fingers below the crotch in a gentle curve and has some fullness, hanging in slight folds.
Belt – Cintura
The pellanda is belted in the waistline with a narrow black cintura, about a finger wide. The cintura has a silver coloured buckled (silver, pewter) and chape. There is no keeper or way of securing the long tail of the belt, which hangs to the knees and must have been extremely irritating when walking. The long tail is unusual in artwork, with belts usually depicted without any visible tail or buckle.
Cloak – Mantello
The mantello has a centre front button closure (4 small buttons) and falls to the knees. It is the same brown colour inside and out, suggesting it’s unlined or lined in the same fabric. Given the light depiction of the hems, I would guess it is a single layer of thin but dense water-resistant wool cloth.
Pilgrim’s Hat and Staff
Saint Roch is painted with a broad hat, presumably woven from straw or grass, hanging from his neck on a fine white cord. He carries a distinctive wooden staff with an iron spine on the bottom. I consider both of these to be accessories of the pilgrim, rather than day to day items.
Notable Ommissions
There is no method depicted for Saint Roch to carry money or small personal accessories. He has no travelling luggage either.
Conclusion
This is a work of devotional art, not a photograph or fashion plate. There are choices made in details that had clear meanings to the intended audience but which might allude you or I. I’ve done my best to provide some educated guesses based on what I’ve read and other artworks I have studied. Because of the high level of detail in the painting, it’s a valuable look into things that can’t be shown in larger frescoes.
The following questions haunt me:
- Did Saint Roch really tuck his shirt into his underpants?
- Were the hose secured by only 4 points?
- How were the points tied in the one-per-hole arrangement?
- How did his tailor get his various collars to fall so beautifully in harmony with one another?
- How did his tailor get such clean hems on his pellanda and mantello?
- How did he style his hair?
- Where is he keeping his trinkets?
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