The barbette and the touret: 14th-century fashions

In the 14th century, religious women, whether elderly or widowed, wore the barbette, a strip of cloth tied around the head, framing the chin and covering the collar. Saint Catherine wears it here in addition to her veil as an attribute of her virginity and marriage to Christ. Women generally also wore the touret, a kind of round headdress. In the present work, the artist replaces this headdress with a crown, reinforcing the idea of a mystical marriage involving piety and the saint's exemplary devotion.