You’re Invited: Fashion in 1811 Project
Serendipitous Stitchery recently announced a year-long project:
Four costume historians will update monthly the news of fashions in 1811 from:
- Journal des Luxus und der Moden
- Journal des Dames et des Modes
- La Belle Assemblee
- Ackermanns Repository
JANUARY 1811 is up! Click on the picture for more information on the project, as well as to see and read about London / Paris / Weimar Fashions from January 1811.
Fabulous Project!
New Images: Richings & Erle Stoke
Have been doing some internet searching, and came across this BEAUTIFUL image of Richings Lodge, the home of the Rt. Hon. John Sullivan, papa to my dear Georgina Vere Sullivan, AKA Mrs Robert Gosling. I invite you to see the full image at Richings Park’s website, but here’s a small teaser (which has a permanent home on the ESTATES page):
Also new on the ESTATES page, an “updated” (larger!) image for Erle Stoke Park, the Wiltshire home of Joshua Smith.
I’ve found a new La Belle Assemblée — which just happens to be for 1826, and includes the marriage announcement for Georgina! I was looking to find if there were any other new additions of this journal, but got tired of finding only those I had already unearthed. But a project I will get back to…, I promise.
On the other hand I found a copy (very late indeed for my time period) of THE LADIES CABINET OF FASHION MUSIC AND ROMANCE. Must admit I really haven’t looked at this beyond its date (1847). Its opening “story” is entitled “Confessions of a Felon“! That makes me rather wonder at the type of journal this purported to be. I assume this “story” falls under the “romance” banner? Funny to find an image of a work rather familiar: the portrait of “Ruben’s Wife” in this issue. A little poem accompanies it.
I’d love readers to tell me whether this journal was froth or is something worth seeking out. I also find a couple of (earlier) titles for a journal called The Ladies Literary Cabinet.
Here’s a book that should be of interest: Victorian Women’s Magazines: An Anthology (2001), by Margaret Beetham and Kay Boardman. In looking for this book in my university’s library (not in their collection, unfortunately), I see that Margaret Beetham, who died in 1996, had published a book A magazine of her own? : domesticity and desire in the woman’s magazine, 1800-1914 — which they DO have on their library shelves. The time period is nice, for Smith & Gosling research, though the writer seems to quickly move on to the later era (a lot of ground to cover in the years of 1800 to 1914…); you can view the book online at Amazon.
La Belle Miss Linwood
La Belle Assemblée for November, 1821 featured this “biographical sketch” of Mary Linwood.
For an alternate post on Miss Linwood – and why she figures in the Smith & Gosling story.
“In the ranks of female talent and merit, we deem ourselves called upon to present the portrait of Miss Linwood, a lady who stands deservedly high among the female artists of this country, and who accomplishments and character place her in that galaxy of merit, which honours the sex, and distinguishes our country. Of female worth and abilities, it has ever been our ambition to present a faithful chronicle; and we consider the correct likeness of this lady will not fail to maintain the interest of our Biographical page.
“Miss Linwood is a native ow Warwickshire, and her family of high respectability: from her early years, Miss Linwood’s chief place of residence has been Leicester.
“A trifling circumstance appears to have given birth to her first essay in an art, in which she has since so eminently distinguished herself. About the year 1782, a friend sent her a large collection of prints in various styles of engraving, as mezzotinto, &c. &c.: the present elicited the taste of Miss Linwood’s mind. However, it appears they were presented with no other view than that of affording a few days amusement. But she inspected them with the eye of genius, and seems to have conceived that the force of a line-engraving might be united with the softness of a mezzotinto: but, unacquainted with the use of aquafortis in etching, a stranger to the mode of scraping a mezzotinto, and, indeed, ignorant, in a manner, of the whole art of engraving, she had, therefore, no instrument but her needle to make the experiment she had conceived: she resolved, therefore, to embody her first idea, by copying those prints she most admired, in black and puce-coloured silk upon white sarcenet; and her success was so great, that the needle promised to become a new and formidable rival to the pencil.
“Encouraged by the applause bestowed on her first essays, she made copies on a larger scale; and as Catharine II. of Russia was then the munificent protector of genius, Miss Linwood was advised to present a specimen of her works to the empress. She accordingly sent a large picture to St. Petersburgh, which, in October 1783, was presented to her Imperial Majesty by the then chief favourite, General Landskoy. The empress expressed the highest admiration of the performance, and declared it, in that branch of art, the finest, in her opinion, the world could have produced, and, at the same time, ordered Landskoy to make such a present to the artist, as should be worthy of the work, and of herself. But death countermanded the munificent command, for the general’s demise took place a few weeks afterwards, and no one in the Court of Petersburgh durst afterwards to mention his name, or any matter which had relation to him, so deeply afflicted was the imperial Catharine at his death. The picture, however, was highly distinguished, and always occupied a favoured situation in the late emperor’s palace, and still retains its honours in that of the present emperor Alexander.
“Miss Linwood’s first attempt to imitate paintings in oil, was in 1785, in which she was so successful, that she submitted to the Society for encouraging the Arts, &c. her St. Peter, from Guido; the head of King Lear, from Sir Joshua Reynolds; and a Hare, from the Houghton Collection. She was voted, for this, by the Society, a medal, on which was engraven, between two branches of laurel,
‘EXCELLENT IMITATIONS OF PICTURES IN NEEDLEWORK.’
“Between that period and 1789, she made great additions to her collection, and in that year she made the exquisite and highly celebrated copy of the Salvator Mundi, form a painting by Guido, in the Earl of Exeter’s collection, for which copy she was once offered the sum of three thousand guineas!
“We mention it as an extraordinary incident, highly resounding to the honour of the fair artist, that she wrought the first banner offered to any military association; and, in the year 1794, she presented it to the united corps of cavalry and yeomanry of Leicestershire. The design was original and extremely appropriate, and the whole finished with a neatness seldom united with such strength and force of design.
“It is yet more extraordinary in the genius of this admirable woman, that she was never regularly instructed in drawing; yet she was uncommon merit in painting, both in crayons, distemper, and colours; and her drawings are distinguished by their accuracy, taste, and spirit.
“The first idea of making an exhibition of her own works, originated in some pictures having been sent by her to the Royal Academy, which were refused admittance, the Academy being open only to paintings, drawings, and sculpture: but from every president of the Royal Academy, from the celebrated Sir Joshua Reynolds to the present, and from the most eminent artists, her works have received the most generous and unqualified praise.
“To enumerate the merits of Miss Linwood’s exhibition is scarcely requisite. Miss Linwood has produced a collection, which, considering its extent and intrinsic merit, will be deemed a monument of superior genius, and of an industry and perseverance unknown in the annals of female patience and exemplary skill.
“The most valuable picture ever produced by this lady, which exhibits the genius and the skill of the artist in the finest light, and affords the best specimen of the wonderful capabilities of this most curious art, we consider to be the Salvator Mundi. The beauties of the original picture were evidently not only carefully studied by Miss Linwood, but well understood, and the mechanical dexterity with which the truth of the finest pictural effects are produced, is most extraordinary.
“The Farmer’s Stable, after Morland, is as fine a copy of the original pictures as can be conceived, perhaps, in any branch of art; but, considered as a piece of needlework, its truth and effect in drawing and colouring, and the clear making out of the minute detail, is a rare curiosity.
“Jephthah’s Vow, a large picture, after Opie, is a fine specimen. Lady Jane Gray, form a painting by Northcote, has great beauty and merit. Hubert and Arthur, also from Northcote; Eloisa, from Opie; and the celebrated Woodman, after Barker, would alone confer on the fair artists a lasting distinction.
“We may conclude with the words of an eminent biographical writer, the works of Miss Linwood ‘exhibit an honourable history of her life.'”
{copied without correction, from the original}
New “Belle Assemblee”
Some “MAJOR” updating to the page on
La Belle Assemblée — eleven new finds!
Fashion News, Regency-Style
In today’s mail a copy of A Lady of Fashion: Barbara Johnson’s Album of Styles and Fabrics; this is a book LONG on my wish list and I finally broke down and obtained a copy. In wonderful shape! Can’t wait to have a sit down, drink a cup of tea, and really look and read.
For those unfamiliar with Barbara Johnson, her album is at the Victoria & Albert Museum – a great favorite with me when in London. They do have an online look at the album, into which Barbara pasted and pinned fashion plates and actual fabric samples for clothing she had made up:
This page shows some of Barbara’s descriptions, fabrics and pictures. I talked about this book way back in 2008!
Sabina at Kleidung um 1800 shared some wonder “fan-cheers” about the book – I’ll see if she’d mind my posting them. She has a unique view on the book, given you interest in costume. You will find a project “to die-for”: Sabine has been working on an 1806 Spencer worn by Queen Luise of Prussia. Just FAB-U-LOUS!
Colonial Williamsburg has a useful site containing fashion plates.
More about Barbara Johnson’s Album at Barbara Brackman’s Material Culture blogspot.
Regency History has fashion plates from La Belle Assemblée.
See the list of Ackermann’s Repository of Arts here on Two Teens in the Time of Austen.
Portrait Miniatures to give you added incentive can be found at Ellison Fine Art.
La belle assemblee, or Bell’s Court and Fashionable Magazine
La Belle Assemblée (1806-1868) (also called Bell’s Court and Fashionable Magazine)
This magazine is exceptionally difficult to find within books.google: it may be the accent in Assemblée; there are issues out there, but not easily found with its title! I’m doing my best to flesh out the copies, and actually just found a few *new* ones yesterday!!
Charlotte Frost, whose interview about her biography on Sir William Knighton can be read on this blog (part 1, part 2), actually gifted me with a bound copy of volume July thru Supplement for 1818. Wasn’t that kind of her. That volume is found online (see below).
So what has interested me, seemingly all of a sudden, in this periodical. I found a “relation” to members of family. Oh, the story is long (have a seat, grab a cup of tea):
The portrait seen here, of Lady Langham, wife of Sir William, appears in the January 1809 issue of La belle assemblée. The brief bio that appears quite clearly speaks of her in the present-tense:
“LADY LANGHAM, whose portrait, from the celebrated pencil of Hopner,…is the only daughter of the Hon. Charles Vane, by Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Wood, Esq. of Hollin, in the County of York. Her Ladyship is married to Sir William Langham Bart. of Cotesbroke [sic: Cottesbrooke], Northamptonshire.”
Some Baronetages list Lady Langham as having died in 1807! Even a private family publication, The Christies of Glyndbourne (where she is ID as Elizabeth FANE), gives her death as 1807. An old copy of Debrett’s is surely more correct, given the above January 1809 bio, in saying that she died in November 1809. Yes, this vibrant young woman was soon taken from her family, aged only 29.
The rather curious-infuriating part: her widower seems to have REmarried in May 1810! Where are the stout-hearted fathers and widowers like William Gosling, who wait YEARS before remarrying???
Sir William’s second wife is quite probably the LADY LANGHAM Mary Gosling/Lady Smith refers to: she was the former Augusta Priscilla IRBY, only daughter of William Henry Irby and therefore the niece of Frederick Lord Boston. Mary’s stepmother Charlotte de Gray (Charlotte Gosling)’s maternal grandfather was the first Lord Boston; Mary’s diaries are sprinkled with Irbys.
But “Langham” should also be a name familiar to readers of TWO TEENS: Langham Christie, the husband of eldest Gosling sister, Elizabeth. Indeed, that same older Debrett’s lays out the intersecting Langham of Cottesbrooke Baronets (no sons often meant the title went — time and again — to a nephew or uncle or sibling, so it jumps around a LOT). Langham Christie’s grandfather, Purbeck Langham — who married Elizabeth Lawton and had among his children Langham’s eventual mother, also named Elizabeth — was the brother of the 2nd and 3rd Baronets. The 4th Baronet’s grandson became the 8th Baronet and was the Sir William who married our lovely lady shown here. (SEE! we did return to her, in the end…).
Ah! I forgot to mention: Elizabeth Lawton’s sister JANE LAWTON married the 8th Earl of Northampton — and this, (of course), is the family from whom Emma’s cousin Spencer, the 2nd Marquess Northampton, descends. Oh, such interweaving of little family histories. No wonder Langham and Charles Christie were so around the Smiths: they were in turn related to Smith relatives (the Comptons of Castle Ashby). The Christies of Glyndebourne was the first to drop that little piece of info into my lap.
Very interesting to see this engraving of the Hopner portrait, for it SO reminds me of portraits by Vigée Le Brun (see, for instance the 1791 portrait of Hyacinth Gabrielle Roland, at Bat Guano – the wonderful site dedicated to this artist). You can see her self-portrait at the Kimbell Art Museum, in Fort Worth, Texas! (Fort Worth is the site of this autumn’s Annual General Meeting, or AGM, for the Jane Austen Society of North America.)
* * *
This page is NOT being updated; see link for La Belle Assemblée’s page
So, in a VERY long-winded way, this post introduces the numbers of this journal that I HAVE found online. Enjoy!
February-July 1806; August-December 1806
*new find!* January-June 1807; July-December 1807 (same issue at Internet Archive)
January-June 1809; July-December 1809
January-June 1810 (alternative link to issue ); July-December 1810
January 1811 (supplemental); January-June 1811; July-December 1811
January-June 1812; July-December 1812
July-December 1814 *new find!*
January-June; July-December 1818; January-December 1818 (Internet Archive) *new find!*
New Series:
January-June 1823 *new find!*
January-June 1832
January-June 1833; July-December 1833
January-June 1834; July-December 1834
July-December 1835
July-December 1836 *new find!*
The Lady’s Magazine, or Entertaining Companion
Primary materials are the life-blood of research. And journals such as The Lady’s Magazine were quite possibly read by the likes of the Smiths and Goslings. Never mind they give us today a peek into the world as seen two hundred years ago. Gentleman’s Magazine is well known to everyone – if for nothing else, its births, deaths and marriages. So now for the Ladies!
Issues are at books.google; index at the end of each; the magazine ran 1770-1837 (a complete run is on microfilm from Adam Matthew Publications (the same firm that microfilmed Mary Lady Smith’s diaries!). Note that NONE have been checked for continuity of pages… (a typical problem with books.google scans).
The Original Series, 1770-1818 (vols 1-49):
January-December 1778
January-December 1779
January-December 1786
January-December 1787
January-December 1790
January-December 1791
January-December 1796
January-December 1797
The New Series, 1820-1829 (vols. 1-10):
The Improved Series, 1830-1832 (vols. 1-5):
A merger with the Lady’s Monthly Museum had already occurred in 1928. Yet, after the further merger in 1832 with La Belle Assemblée (and, in 1838, The Court Magazine and Monthly Critic), even though these journals continued to be printed at separate locations and appear under their own title for some time, their contents were identical.
Lady’s Monthly Museum:
January-December 1834
January-December 1835
January-December 1836
January-December 1837
different: Elegant Extracts – Poetry & Prose (1797)
La Belle Assemblée (1806-1868) (also called Bell’s Court and Fashionable Magazine)
This magazine is exceptionally difficult to find within books.google: it may be the accent in Assemblée; there are issues out there, but not easily “findable” with its title!
February-July 1806; August-December 1806
*new find!* January-June 1807; July-December 1807 (same issue at Internet Archive)
January-June 1809; July-December 1809
January-June 1810 (alternative link to issue ); July-December 1810
January 1811 (supplemental); January-June 1811; July-December 1811
January-June 1812; July-December 1812
July-December 1814 *new find!*
January-June; July-December 1818
New Series:
January-June 1823 *new find!*
January-June 1832
January-June 1833; July-December 1833
January-June 1834; July-December 1834
July-December 1835
July-December 1836 *new find!*
Two Teens in the Time of Austen 