#Medieval fashion skin

Fashion and piety merge here, a conversation still so politicised and personal in today's culture. The wimple is coded as a vehicle to read both the woman and Campin's skill visually, and the artist leads us there effortlessly.

#Medieval fashion skin

The characterisation of the veil aches with beauty and technicality – complemented by the youthful, wary and delicious detail lavished on the skin tone. The sitter simultaneously displays her wealth and status in the materials used, while the artist basks in the opportunity for virtuoso painting. Inside this, we have an authentic, lifelike and lovingly made depiction of a conventional medieval woman. Campin captures for us a very gendered expression of identity where fashion speaks as a narrative for the society in which he lived. At the time, Christian teaching on modesty, piety and expectations of married women dictated that heads be covered with little – if any – hair showing. An almost sensuous play of light and shadow is seen on the treatment of material – it hangs in both volume and tactile softness around the face. Here the sitter wears a crisp white pinned and layered wimple of fine cloth. This portrait of a woman by Robert Campin (1375/1379–1444) is the perfect example. Robert Campin (Master of Flémalle) (c.1375/1379–1444) The National Gallery, London