Today it is Good Friday and in many Roman Catholic churches people are practicing the Veneration of the Cross to ponder about the passion and death of Jesus.
Crosses are a very popular motif in fashion: employed as prints, embroideries, appliqued elements or used as pendants, crosses regularly reappear on the runways decade after decade, hinting at a powerful religious symbol or employed by designers in irreverent ways.
In fashion the cross appeared also in Alexander McQueen's "It's a Jungle Out There" (A/W 1997-98) collection. As you may remember, the latter featured a jacket with a print of Robert Campin's "The Thief to the Left of Christ" (ca. 1430), portraying one of the two criminals crucified with Jesus.
This painting is just a fragment of an altarpiece by the Master of Flémalle, a leading light in early Flemish and Dutch painting. The rest of the altarpiece (with a central section showing the Deposition) was destroyed during an iconoclastic campaign in the late 16th century.
Campin portrayed the thief bound by ropes and hanging in torment, his figure standing out from the gold brocade background that was made with a sophisticated pressed brocade technique employed to replicate the effect of textile materiality.
McQueen combined art and religion in an irreverent way in his jacket that was characterised by a strong and powerful silhouette with angular shoulders. The painting was deconstructed and reconstructed on the front of the jacket, and on the back the designer focused the attention on the thief hanging from the cross.
Choosing to feature the bad thief on his garment was maybe a metaphorical act: rather going with more traditional images of Jesus on the cross, McQueen seemed to favour an evil character, a choice that perfectly aligned with his inspirations, often permeated by darkness.
For further Good Friday inspirations by Campin you can check out "The Seilern Triptych" (also known as Entombment; c. 1410-15 or c 1420-25).
While this is less accomplished and successful than his more mature panels, "The Seilern Triptych" is still a beautiful piece.
It shows the events of Christ's passion through iconography associated with the liturgy of Holy Week, with the story developing in the panels from left to right, going from the crucifixion and burial to resurrection of Jesus.
If you're interested in a Good Friday inspiration with some textiles connections, check out "Portrait of St. Veronica".
Attributed to Campin, it represents Veronica showing the veil with which she wiped Jesus' forehead on his way to the Golgotha, with the image of his face miraculously impressed upon it.
The painting features Veronica standing in front of an intricate brocaded textile, holding the veil with Jesus' face, its diaphanous consistency perfectly rendered by the painter so that it is possible to see Veronica's body behind it.
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