Visual Research

A difficulty with reconstructing late 17th century Mohawk dress is the lack of a direct documentary instrument like photography. Many explorers made sketches which were later published as etchings or engravings. We also have the written testimony of travelers, especially the Jesuits. St. Kateri's early biographers, were creating hagiography, not a descriptive narrative, so their descriptions of her are minimal. From the writings of the Jesuits, we know that once she reached the Kahnewake communities she eschewed the ornamentation and jewelry favored by many other your women (See Bonaparte in the Bibliography). But we also know that she was a skilled and valued artist. Indeed her work was so esteemed as to adorn ceremonial wampum belts.

We also know that her poor eyesight and facial scars often compelled her to wear a hood or a shawl that could be draped above her head when in bright sunlight. This hood, rather than being conceived as an ancient version of a contemporary coat hood, was probably little more than a blanket, large enough to be draped over the head.

In reflecting on this I have begun to devise a more detailed plan for the clothing, and for describing her attire in paint. In this revised sketch, I've altered the cut of the dress to reflect the description of 17th century Iroquois dress in Dean R. Snow's The Iroquois. To guide my hand I've been comparing this description to etchings made from Champlain's Voyages de la Nouvelle France, published in the 1640. To get an idea of the ways in which the Iroquois embellished the imported fabric, I've been looking at the paintings of Verelst, who in 1710 created four portraits to commemorate the arrival of Iroquois delegates at the court of Queen Anne.

In this pencil sketch I'm considering a different arrangement of the leggings, skirt, overblouse and blanket. I've draped the blanket over her head, in a way that she is known to have worn it. I'm not committed to that yet, but it's important to me that I can visualize it before ruling it out.