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 Conisbrough Castle crossdressing | 117.74 KB |
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Thursday and with a nice dry and mild day I went for a ride - well you all know that's what I do for relaxation / inspiration. Today I heade east to Conisbrough Castle which overlooks the River Don not far from Doncaster. You might not know the name but it's where Ivanhoe was set and there are connections with the whole Robin Hood folklore thing (Robin actually came from Sheffield, Loxley is the home to Titanium manufacture believe it or not)
Anyhow, back to the plot - it was a nice day and I took the opportunity to visit the new to me visitor centre. The current castle dates to @ 1200 but rplaced an earlier wooden Norman affair. But I digress again, in the 'museum' there are finds from the castle and some contempory, early 13th Century illustrations of the incumbents, including this pic.
Is this an early image of crossdressing?
Mads
Comments
Could be
Period English actors being exclusively male, including the female roles. Not so sure about gender presentation for the musicians.
"Reach for the sun."
It is hard to say for sure.
For two basic reasons the simplicity of the of the art style, combined with the basic similarity of the main male and female garments of the time, that is the t-tunic. My initial impression is that the one on the right is female, and the one on the left is male.(image left and right, not subject)
Considering those two points:
- The one on the right dose not show anything inconsistent with being an illustration of a female, and has prominent breast shading.
- The one on the left is a bit more ambiguous. My initial impression of male, is based on a combination of, exposed legs and short hair without any adornment. However looking closer, that figure also appears to have breasts, which says female, but they are not shaded in like on the other figure, yet male pectorals are an unlikely illustration detail. While short hair is a possibility for a female, although I would expect some kind of adornment. Also, exposed legs for a female would have been very improper, for most(if not all) of the period in court type settings at this location. Both these points argue toward male. So hard to say.
If they are actor in some sort of play, then this analyses becomes irrelevant, then they are both male but costumed. The costumes don't even have to be period depending on the play, but would likely be influenced by the period.
On closer inspection, I still would go with my initial impression, left male, and right female, although the one on the left I find a bit ambiguous. Unless that is we know that they are in a play, or the musician is costumed for some reason.
Note, the above is just my interpretation via armature hobbyists knowledge.
~Hypatia
(member of a couple of historical reenactment groups)