18th century blog

Portrait of a lady said to be Lady Bessborough.

John Downman was an English portrait painter and he’s one of my favourite 18th century artists. He made lots of beautiful little portrait drawings.

As always, let me know if you know where to find more or bigger pictures or perhaps know of a book featuring his work.

John Downman on Wikipedia.

John Downman on Answers.com.

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Portrait of a lady, said to be Marie-Madeleine Guimard, called Mademoiselle Guimard, ballerina of the Paris Opéra.

I can’t find any information about the artist Jean-Frederic Schall on the internet, but he did a lot of paintings of dancers, as well as romantic and erotic paintings. Most of the paintings I’ve seen seem to be made in the 1780s. He did some lovely paintings and if you have any tips on where to find more paintings and information do let me know.

More paintings »

I finally sorted through and edited my Jefferson in Paris screencaps. When I wrote about the movie earlier I just showed a few pictures I found on the internet, but after the cut are 145 new screencaps.

Edit: Fixed the screencaps so they won’t take so long to load.

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Antoine Pesne with his daughters, 1754.

Antoine Pesne was a French rococo portrait artist who lived between 1683 and 1757.

Antoine Pesne on Wikipedia, and on Swedish Wikipedia.

Antoine Pesne on Encyclopedia Britannica.

Antoine Pesne on Art Directory.

See more of Pesne’s paintings after the cut.

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The Duchess

When I first heard they were making a movie about Georgiana I was so exited, but when I heard Keira Knightly was playing her I was very disappointed. Not that I have anything against Keira Knightly but I couldn’t think of anyone who looks less like Georgiana and I just couldn’t see her in the role. I was happily surprised when seeing the movie though. Even though it’s not the amazing movie I expected when I first heard of the plans, Keira did a great job playing Georgiana, and even though she didn’t really look the part she looked beautiful in her own right and was very charming.

The movie was more serious and somber than I expected. I was hoping for more frivolity, society life, parties and gambling, but the focus is all on the unhappy marriage. It’s not the kind of movie I’d want to watch over and over again, but it was definitely entertaining the first time. There are little inaccuracies and things left out and switched around in Georgiana’s life, but it’s all understandable for the purpose of the movie. Since it’s just about a part of her life, it has a bit of a non-ending, just like Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette.

The costumes were overall amazing, lots of beautiful redingotes and jackets. There were some hairstyles I didn’t like but for the most part the hair was great too. I loved the scenes with many extras, there are lots of amazing outfits if you look in the background. At times the fashions tended to be a bit earlier than the time depicted, at least for a fashionable person like Georgiana, but that’s nitpicking. One thing that bothered me though was the scene where Georgiana’s hair caught on fire, and it’s revealed that it’s just a wig. I’m pretty sure Georgiana didn’t wear wigs, probably plenty of hairpieces, but actual wigs were not common for late 18th century girls.

More publicity stills and 164 high resolution screencaps after the cut!

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Self portrait.

Pehr Hilleström was a Swedish 18th century painter who often painted everyday scenes with great attention to detail.

Pehr Hilleström on Historiesajten. In Swedish.

Pehr Hilleström at Konstnärslexikonet Amanda. Also in Swedish.

Some Hilleström paintings after the cut.

Edit: Updated this post with two more paintings.

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Divided Affections, The Extraordinary Life of Maria Cosway by Carol Burnell
I was very kindly given this book months ago to review, but university plus myself being a slow reader resulted in me not finishing it until yesterday.

I had been wanting to learn more about Maria Cosway so I was very happy to receive the book. I was happily surprised to find that it was such a beautiful book, with many pictures and a beautiful layout. Pictures are a huge plus for me so I liked this book right away.

It’s a biography about Maria Cosway, with some parts written in a dramatized dialogue. The parts that are “made up” are in italics so you can clearly tell them from the rest which I think was a nice touch. Maria Cosway had a very interesting life and the book is very entertainingly written, not boring at all. It really made you feel like you were there, and I just really liked it. I have yet to read all the notes at the back of the book but there are lots of them and they look very interesting.

A great book and highly recommended to anyone interested in Maria Cosway or fashionable 18th century ladies in general.

(As a lover of 18th century fashion I have to point out a tiny fashion-related error. At one place in the book a dress is described which is clearly a so called chemise dress, also known as a gaulle or chemise à la Reine, but in the book it’s called a robe à l’ Anglaise.)

Sofia Vladimirovna Panina, 1791.

I don’t know anything about Jean-Louis Voille except that he appears to be French and seems to have painted mainly Russians. His paintings are lovely though, and you can see more after the cut.

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Click the picture above to watch a podcast about this dress, created by Rose Bertin and probably worn by Marie Antoinette. The dress belongs to the Royal Ontario Museum but will apparently be exhibited at Versailles next year March 16 to June 14, as part of an exhibition about 17th and 18th century court dress. I’ll hopefully visit!

John Wilkes and his daughter, 1779.

German painter Johann Zoffany on Wikipedia.

More paintings after the cut.

Edit: Updated this post with one more painting.

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The website of the upcoming movie The Duchess is up with lots of photos and information. My favourite thing about it is that many of the costumes are presented with detailed photos and information, I also liked the “discover” section. I have mixed feelings about this movie but mostly I can’t wait to see it! Click the picture to go to the website.

Sofia Magdalenas brudklänning i tidens smak by AnneMarie Dahlberg
This is a tiny little book sold at the Swedish museum Livrustkammaren. It’s about the wedding dress of Sofia Magdalena who later became queen of Sweden. It tells of the wedding and of the construction of the dress, and contains x-rays of the dress bodice. A few other dresses and objects are also shown. There are no actual descriptions on how to go about making the dress, but it’s still useful if you’re interested in making 18th century clothes. It’s an interesting little book with many pictures, and it’s very cheap. if you’re ever at Livrustkammaren I recommend picking it up.

Another Livrustkammaren tip is the pattern of Gustav III:s wedding suit also sold in the museum shop.

I just found these two “sister blogs”, Georgiana’s gossip guide to the 18th century, and Marie Antoinette’s gossip guide to the 18th century. Both very entertaining blogs with bits of 18th century information and lots of pictures, even some I hadn’t seen before. Check them out!

There’s a completely new ballet about Gustav III currently playing at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm. I haven’t seen it myself and the only pictures I’ve found are very small, but you can see a clip from it. If anyone has seen it I’d love to hear what you thought.