Medal of Queen Mary Tudor, Detail
Bathsheba, Detail

Accessories Myths

Myth: French hoods are easy to make from a visor, so it can stick up on top. And it has a billowy hood that drapes across the back.

The main body of a French hood is usually one piece, not two, and is worn flat to the head, not two pieces with the upper saluting on top. The upper part of the hood may have a roll of braided hair underneath to support the sometimes heavily jeweled upper billiment, which may add to the look of it rising higher in the back. Both images shows how flat it really was on the top.

As to the hood portion, there are more images from illuminations and effigies that show clearly that the hood is a tube shape, not a billowing veil.

Mary Tudor, Queen of England 1553 - 1558 (gold medal), by Jacopo da Trezzo made circa 1555.

Detail of Bathsheba, by Simon Bening, Leaves from the Hennessy Hours, fol. 143v, mid 1530s. Image from the book Illuminating the Renaissance: The Triumph of Flemish Manuscript Painting in Europe, by J. Paul Getty Trust (2003). Page #410. Getty Publications. Los Angeles, CA, USA. Paperback edition. ISBN #0-8923-6704-0.

For more images of French hoods, please view my research area.