Once I was a clever boy learning the arts of Oxford... is a quotation from the verses written by Bishop Richard Fleming (c.1385-1431) for his tomb in Lincoln Cathedral. Fleming, the founder of Lincoln College in Oxford, is the subject of my research for a D. Phil., and, like me, a son of the West Riding. I have remarked in the past that I have a deeply meaningful on-going relationship with a dead fifteenth century bishop... it was Fleming who, in effect, enabled me to come to Oxford and to learn its arts, and for that I am immensely grateful.


Tuesday 24 August 2021

Vestments for the Order of the Golden Fleece


The Liturgical Arts Journal has an article by Shawn Tribe about the fifteenth century vestments made for the use of the Order of the. Golden Fleece at the court of Duke Philip the Good of Burgundy and now in the Hofburg in Vienna. The Order was founded in 1430 by the Duke at the time of his marriage to Isabella of Portugal, and the vestments are assigned to the 1430s. There is an introduction to the history of the Order from Wikipedia at Order of the Golden Fleece

These are the best photographs I have seen of these wondrous treasures and well display the skilled use of visual textile techniques available in the 1430s. The Burgundian court was undoubtedly a centre for artistic work of the highest quality, but textiles are perhaps even vulnerable than paintings, sculpture and manuscripts to the ravages of time and chance - if the mercenaries don’t get then the moths very well may…




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