Mourning veil
Unknown Artist
1870–75
Medium
Silk
Classification
Mourning Veil
Culture
American
Department
Costume Institute
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Lillian E. Glenn Peirce in memory of Mrs. Luther G. Tillotson, 1944
Accession Number
2009.300.4477
Art Historical Context
Step into the somber elegance of the 1870s with this delicate *Mourning veil*, crafted from fine silk by an unknown American artist. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute, this piece from the Brooklyn Museum collection evokes the rituals of grief in post-Civil War America. Donned by widows and mourners, such veils were essential accessories in a society where death was marked by elaborate, prolonged displays of sorrow, influenced by Victorian customs. Silk, with its soft sheen and airy drape, was a prized medium for mourning attire, allowing the veil to flutter mournful...