Monday, June 4, 2018

Late Eighteenth-Century Fashion Extremes

Carington Bowles after Samuel Hieronymus Grimm
Be not amaz'd, dear Mother - It is indeed your daughter Anne
1774
hand-colored mezzotint
British Museum

Carington Bowles after Samuel Hieronymus Grimm
Welladay! Is this my son Tom!
1774
hand-colored-mezzotint
British Museum

Matthew Darly
The vis-a-vis bisected, or, The Ladies Coop
1776
hand-colored engraving
British Museum

from An Essay on Criticism

Avoid extremes; and shun the fault of such,
Who still are pleas'd too little or too much.
At ev'ry trifle scorn to take offence,
That always shows great pride, or little sense;
Those heads, as stomachs, are not sure the best,
Which nauseate all, and nothing can digest.
Yet let not each gay turn thy rapture move,
For fools admire, but men of sense approve;
As things seem large which we through mists descry,
Dulness is ever apt to magnify.

– Alexander Pope (1711)

Matthew Darly
Chloe's Cushion, or, The Cork Rump
1777
hand-colored engraving
British Museum

Anonymous English printmaker
The Lady's Maid, or, Toilet Head-Dress
1776
hand-colored etching
British Museum

S.W. Fores (publisher)
A Side Box at the Opera
1784
hand-colored etching
British Museum

Gallerie des Modes (Paris)
Fashion-plate - Hat
ca. 1780-90
hand-colored engraving
Victoria & Albert Museum

Gallerie des Modes (Paris)
Fashion-plate - Hat
ca. 1780-90
hand-colored engraving
Victoria & Albert Museum

James Wicksteed
A Stage Box Scene - Mrs Bruin, Miss Chienne, Miss Renard
1787
hand-colored etching
Victoria & Albert Museum

Johann Jakob Lutz
Woman in costume of Berne
1788
hand-colored etching
British Museum

John Barlow
Les Incommodités de Janvier, 1786
(The Inconveniences or Awkwardnesses of January, 1786)
1786
hand-colored etching
British Museum

Female Fashions for 1799

A FORM, as any taper, fine,
A head like half-pint basin,
Where golden cords and bands entwine
As rich as fleece of JASON.

A pair of shoulders strong and wide
Like country clown enlisting,
Bare arms long dangling by the side,
And shoes of ragged listing!

Cravats like towels, thick and broad,
Long tippets made of bear-skin,
Muffs that a RUSSIAN might applaud,
And rouge to spoil a fair skin.

Long petticoats to hide the feet,
Silk hose with clocks of scarlet,
A load of perfume, sick'ning sweet,
Bought of PARISIAN VARLET.

A bush of hair, the brow to shade,
Sometimes the eyes to cover;
A necklace that might be display'd
by OTAHEITEAN lover!

A bowl of straw to deck the head,
Like porringer unmeaning;
A bunch of POPPIES flaming red,
With motley ribands streaming.

Bare ears on either side the head
Like wood-wild savage SATYR,
Tinted with deep vermilion red
To shame the blush of nature.

Red elbows, gauzy gloves, that add
An icy cov'ring merely;
A wadded coat, the shape to pad,
Like Dutch-women – or nearly.

Such is CAPRICE! but, lovely kind!
Oh! let each mental feature
Proclaim the labour of the mind,
And leave your charms to NATURE.

– Mary Robinson (1799)

Louise Gaillard
Fashion-plate
1779
hand-colored engraving
Victoria & Albert Museum

Étienne-Claude Voysard
Jeune femme de qualité
(Young woman of quality)
1778
hand-colored engraving
Victoria & Albert Museum

Anonymous French printmaker
Dame aristocrate maudissant la Révolution
(Aristocratic lady cursing the Revolution)
1790
hand-colored etching
British Museum