English Artists Illustrating Boys' Fashions: Unidentified Painting (probably 1840s)



Figure 1.--This painting looks modern in style when you first see it from a distance, especially the vibrant colours, almost like a photograph of manequins. The girl's clothes show it to be early 19th century--perhaps the 1830s. Hopefully an expertbon girls' dresses will help us date it. Note the boy's hunting outfit is the same as worn by the modern "blood sport" crowd. Unfortunately I do not know who the artist was. The painting was first attributed to a Swiss artist before finally being attributed to a little known English painter.

This painting looks modern in style when you first see it from a distance, especially the vibrant colours, almost like a photograph of manequins. The painting was first attributed to a Swiss artist before finally being attributed to a little known English painter. Unfortunately, we do not yet know the name of the artist. The girl's clothes show it to be early 19th century--perhaps the 1830s. We have no information on who the children are. We always assumed that they were brother and sister. The girl looks to be the boy's older sister. Notice how she is handing the riding crop to the boy.

The Painting

This painting looks modern in style when you first see it from a distance, especially the vibrant colours, almost like a photograph of manequins. The painting was first attributed to a Swiss artist before finally being attributed to a little known English painter. Unfortunately, we do not yet know the name of the artist.

Chronology

The girl's clothes show it to be early 19th century. We would guess the 1840s, but the 1830s is a possibility. We think the 1840s because the neckline is not as low as we have seen in Regency dresses and the pantalettes more elaborate. But this is just a guess. We are not at all sure about dating girl's dresses. Hopefully a reader will have some insights here. Hopefully an expert on girls' dresses will help us date it. The sleeves in particular are quite destinctive. Note the boy's hunting outfit is the same as worn by the modern "blood sport" crowd.

Children

We have no information on who the children are. We always assumed that they were brother and sister. The girl looks to be the boy's older sister. Notice how she is handing the riding crop to the boy.

Reader Comment

A Canadian reader writes, "Are you sure the teenager at right is a girl ? In the 19th century, I never saw a 19th century girl with a hair style like that." HBC was also struck by the hair style also and it does look rather boyish. As we do not know know the identity of the children, we can nok say positively that the oldest child is a girl. All things conidered, hiweverm we believe that she was a girl. We have noted short hair on some girls in the early 19th century, although not styled like this. But notice the center part. Center parts were quite common for girls and almost unknown of for boys at this time. Also it would seem rather strange for one boy in the family to be so boyishly dressed and the other notv yet breeched. This is especially true because the child in the dress looks older than the boy on the horse. The pantalettes are another indicator. Both boys and girls wore pantalettes, but generally spdeaking, the frillier pantalettes seen here were more common for girls.








HBC





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Created: August 8, 2002
Last updated: 5:41 AM 9/21/2004