Monday, May 27, 2024

Peasant Fashion in the Low Countries: Stage 2; Frans Verbeeck

Aaah, Frans Verbeeck, born 1510 and died 1570.  Or at least his studio/family, since we don't know in most cases as to which Frans Verbeeck, and it wasn't uncommon for their paintings to be unsigned.  Their style is...unique, although likely inspired by Heironymus Bosch, and have similar forms of exaggeration and satire.  Even so, not all of it is useless for this survey.  I am not a fan of the artistic style, tbh.

  • Peasant Wedding
        • The usual depiction of revelry, although this time with several jesters if you look.  Discarding some of the funky proportions, the clothing is definitely of use, at least when corroborated by other painters.
        • Other than the farm implements and feasting stuffs, there is a cookery in the back, plus a lovely little piercework lantern being carried by a fool in the front.
    • 1
      • He's wearing a bee skep with a cock head on the front.  We're discarding this headwear from the survey because No.  And his dance partner is wearing a butter churn.
      • Red doublet of close fit, and multiple white points down the front.  The gut is exaggerated.
      • Dirty white or likely tan full hosen with black points and brass aiglettes.
      • Narrow black belt, with clearly visible double lobed buckle.  Fancy curved dagger on the belt.
    • 2, fool with mask.  He reminds me of Lock from Nightmare Before Christmas.
      • Red waistcoat, of close fit and knee length.  
      • Over a sleeved doublet in dark green-black
      • Brown hosen.
      • Brown mittens?
      • For accessories he has a narrow BROWN belt, with a whip stuck through, plus a set of bells on his garter.
    • 3, child with no neck bones
      • Brown hat of some kind.
      • White waistcoat.  The fit on this is as though borrowed from an adult.
      • Red jacket with pleated back
      • Green doublet
      • White stockings under brown trousers.
    • 4, Musician
      • Grey Low broad brim cap with...lemon slices on it?
      • Black coif
      • Brown long robelike garment with slit sleeves.
      • Red doublet
      • Single handed flute, and drum.
    • 5, Piper
      • Green knit beanie cap.  Super simple.
      • Medium brown square skirted hood, worn down.
      • Red doublet of hip length.
      • Grey full hosen.
      • Narrow belt with a small purse tucked into it.
    • 6, "Aaaaghh"
      • Green doublet of close fit, possibly with cut on skirts.  It's fastened down the front with 3 red? points.
      • White full hosen.
    • 7, Cook
      • Brown doublet.
      • White full hosen.
      • BROWN shoes
      • He also has a knife set hanging from his belt
    • 8, Rich guy.  This clothing looks like it's from the previous century
      • Red hat.  A low dome shape, and he has a badge on the front and several points tucked into it.
      • Red coat with wide bell sleeves, and a knee length pleated skirt.
      • Brown doublet
      • Brown full hose
      • Black belt with a bollock dagger, and a very nice pleated frame purse which may be silk.  He also has a sword on the other side.
    • 9, Beer Me!
      • Black cap with the back folded up and tied with a red point.
      • Brownish green (really ugly, and I assume not the original colour) jerkin, appearing as a simple vest.
      • Yellow doublet.  You can see some gathers in the sleevehead.
      • Green full hosen
      • Brown shoes again.
      • Bollock dagger and black kidney purse on belt.
    • 10, disturbing guy
      • Brown fur hat, folded up, and with peasant feathers in it.  Looks like a ushanka, and the earliest example of similar that I have seen. Except maybe in one German fencing manual I don't recall.
      • Brown doublet, fit is close.
      • Green-black hosen.
      • Over the doublet is an odd thing, possibly a market budget (or Fassing bag for Swedish.  Tube bag with a slit in the center).
      • On the belt, some sort of copper and brown leather case.

  • Temptations of Saint Anthony, 1550-60. Fran/Jans Verbeek
        • Again, while not in realistic styling, there are some details to clothing which can be observed. There are also some cooking implements which can be observed.
    • 1
      • Green doublet, with red points.
      • Blue full hosen. Because he does not have shoes on, we can clearly see the hosen have stirrup straps. There is something else going on at the knees, with red.
    • 2, pot shield. His clothing is odd, with the extra layer of fabric flying behind.
      • Dark brown cloak around neck.
      • White Doublet, wide open at the check.
      • Light blue second doublet or waistcoat, with a single red point center chest.
      • White apron
      • Blue full hosen.
      • Knife set at belt?
    • 3, Young guy
      • Red doublet. Nicely fitted
      • White shirt.
      • Red hosen.
    • 4, Kneeling fool
      • Blue hood with small square capelet. If you remember, we saw one of these years ago in a painting of hunters.
      • Red doublet
      • Greenish tan hosen.
      • White apron.

  • The Egg Dance . Date unknown. Circle of Frans Verbeek.
        • While Frans was an individual artist living between 1510 and 1570, he was apparently part of a family or friends group all painting in much the same styles...and not necessarily signing their work.
        • His style, is grotesque and satirical, inspired by Hieronymus Bosch, and has to be taken with the same grains of salt, but could be useful nonetheless. Per Verbeek's norm, the artwork is grotesque, somewhere between Bosch and Brueghel. Some of the clothing is alright, leaving aside the funky body proportions.
        • We additionally have furniture (table, chairs, a bench/box, what appears to be a birdhouse), and a covered pitcher, bellows, and a couple of flutes.
    • 1, Judge
      • Red capuchon style hat, with long tendrils.
      • Black jacket, of knee length and skirts pleated to the back.
      • Red hosen.
      • Black mule type shoes
    • 2, Dancer
      • Black "modern" doublet, with buttons. This does not appear to be a Flemish style, but a more typical one.
      • Brown hosen with stirrup straps. This is interesting, since we almost never see what the bottom of the hosen look like...but here he's barefoot for the egg dance.

  • The Mocking of Human Folly.  1530s?  
        • Another Grotesquery, showing a number of people engaged in a variety of potentially reprehensible activities, and a ton of tiny human figures crawling all over and being stuffed in sacks.  
        • Oddly, there is only one male figure in clear view and the form of dress which is being covered by this survey--that of the guy front and left.
        • There are several ladies in fairly normal dress, however, plus some furniture.
    • Harvester of Lilliputians
      • Veil?  
      • Medium Green coat, mid-thigh in length at least, and lined with a darker green.
      • Red hosen, interestingly also lined in green.  At least one leg has a black cloth garter under the knee.  They appear to have full feet, and a seam down the heel.
      • A shirt is visible.
      • Slip on mules, insole being red.

  • Various social and folk scenes on the outskirts. Date Unknown.  I suspect late in his life, if not afterwards, based on the couple's ruffs.
        • While not as grotesque as many of his paintings, it still has a distinct lack of detail compared to artists such as Aertsen.  Again, we have a variety of clothing styles, ranging from High Fashion to the expected peasant wear. 
        • As always, we have some lovely pottery, and a pair of bagpipes.  There is also what is hopefully a stick horse at the lower right.
    • 1, Dancer.  His clothing is...odd.  There are apparently many upper body garments being worn?  I would not take him as a good example.
      • Hat of unknown type.
      • Black, possibly leather vest, with a crosslaced front...absolutely odd.
      • Underneath appears to be a white garment with either folds or quilting lines and a crossover front.  It is slightly longer than the vest.
      • Under /that/ is a black layer which only appears between the white layer and his hosen.
      • Red-purple sleeves.  I would guess these are pin/laced on.  The fit is close.
      • A fine white shirt is visible with gathers at the neck.
      • Red full hosen, with white binding at the waist.  The points are yellow.
      • Black shoes of standard type.
    • 2, Drinker
      • Red broad brimmed but flat topped hat
      • Short, greenish doublet of waist length and fairly boxy construction.
      • White shirt
      • Red full hosen.
    • 3, Drinker buddy?
      • Yellow thrum hat which is quite pointy.
      • Red doublet
    • 4, Piper
      • Red flat cap.
      • Green-black doublet.  It may be lined in white, or that is a shirt collar worn open.
      • Red or pink full hosen.
    • 5, Dancing Fop
      • Red Thrum or otherwise knit hat.
      • Black coat, doublet breasted, and buttoning rather than lacking.  It has close sleeves, and skirt to the knee.  Unusually, there is trim in the form of a guard around the hem.
      • Black or very dark green doublet?  
      • Yellow knee breeches with codpiece.  These are interesting and I kinda like them.  They also have fancy dags at the cuff.
      • White stockings of good fit.
      • Black shoes of standard type.
      • For accessories, there is a narrow black belt with silver decorations, a small knife hangings from it with likewise, and a more worn kidney style purse.

 

 

 

 

© John Frey, 2024. The Author of this work retains full copyright for this material.  Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this document for non-commercial private research or educational purposes provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all copies

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