American Artists: Fashion Chronology


Figure 1.--This American boy was probably painted in the 1820s or perhaps 30s. We do not know who nhe is or whopainted him.

We have noticed a number of interesting paintings, mostly portraits. They are many portraits of couse because this is what people wanted in the 18th and early-19th centuries before the development of photography--portraits of themselves and their families. In some cases we have no idea who the artists are. Many may be artists who did not sign their works and are not well recognized. Even so they are valuable for HBC's assessment of clothing styles. We can only guess at the dates of these portraits. We would be very interested in any insights readers may have about these portaits, either the dating or aspects of the fashions illustrated.

The 18th Century


Knee Breeches Suit (1790s)

A portrait by an unknown artist shows two children with the younger boy's black nurse. All we know about the artist is that he worked in Virginia. American artists at the time generally worked in generally restricted areas, so this is useful in attempting to identify artists as is the date of the work. We have been able to find little information about the individuals depicted. The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond identified the children as the "grandchildren of Virginia's Governor Spotswood", but the children are not named. The Museum dates the painting to the 1790s. Alexander Spotswood was a Lt. Governor (1714–1722), but because the governor was an absentee official, he acted more like the govenor. He played an important role in Virginia colobnial history and is especially remembered for ending the rapacious attacks of the notorious pirate, Blackbeard (1718). He had four children. Given the children's age, they are mostly likely the childten of Anne Catherine Spotswood (1728-c1802) and Col. Bernard Moore, Esq., of Chelsea, King William Co., Virginia. He was related to Sir Thomas More, of Chelsea, England, the author of Utopia and executed by King Henry VIII. Descendents include Genetral Robert E. Lee and Helen Keller. Ann Catherines siblings became involved with George Washington and Patrick Henry. The term nurse for the young women seems to describe the young woman's assifnment, but not her status. In Virginia at the time she almost certainly would have been a slave. She is barefoot, but better dressed than most slaves would have been at the time, presumably because she was a household slave. The older boy is coming from hunting with a bow and arrow. Note he is wearing a suit even though he was hunting. As was still common at the time the suit has knee breeches. The little boy is wearing only a shirt or perhaps a night shirt. The sky suggests that it is morning or evening. The portrait is in the collection of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond.

The 19th Century



Low-cut Ruffled Neckline (1810s)

We have noted boys wearing garments with low-cut necklines,sometime with ruffled or other trim, in the early 19th century. These low-cut necklines were worn on both dresses before breaching and skeleton suits after breaching. The children wearing them are younger children normally up to about age 6 years although we have seen older boys as well. The boy here wears a lowcut jacket with ruffled trim as part of a skeleton suit. He looks abpout 3-4 years old. we might have guessed a little older, but his hair suggests a younger boy. He dfinitely is a boy because he is pictured with a book. In early paintings, books almost always indicated the child was a boy. At the time, the education og girls was normally considered of little importance. We are guessing that this portait was painted in the 1810s.

Skeleton Suit (1810s?)

We do not know who painted the portrait here, but it has been attributed to the American school. The boys wears a skeleton suit with a small round lace collar. We are also unsure how to date the portrait. We would guess about 1820, but are not at all sure about this and would welcome any reader insights.

Sitting Boy (1820s?)

This is a wonderful early oil painting portrait of a young boy (figure 1). This is an original oil on canvas painting that was later laid down on board. I believe it is an early "American School" painting but I am not sure. The boy is well dressed and sitting on rocks at the edge of a stream. There are flowers blooming near and a distant city visible in the background. He has a confident look on his face with one eyebrow slightly raised. The portrait is not dated, but we might guess about the 1820s, in part because of the open collar.

Purple Velvet Dress (1830s?)

We know knothing about this portrait. The artist and the children are unidentified. The artist seems reasonably proficient, although we would say he did a better job with the girl's face than yhe boy's face. It almost certainly is an American portrit. The vegetation suggests the South to us. The portrait was for sale in a North Carolina auction. We are not sure about the date, but would guess the 1830s. The children look to be an older siter and a younger brother. Both children wear dresses with some similar stylistic details.

Baloon Sleeves (1850s)

Here we have a portrait of an American boy about 8-9 years old by an unknown naive artist. Unfortunately the boy is unidentified. And we have no idea where in America the boy was from. He wears a jacket with short sleeves and ballon sleeves. Note the lacing on the sleeves. We are not entirely sure sure when the portrait was painted. I think it is clearly pre-Civil War. We suspect the 1850s, probanly the early 50s. We think the 1840s is also possible, but we do not know enough about the 1840s to say yet. We have not found any photographs with a jacket and skeeves just like this which is one reason we think the late 40s or early 50s is the approximate time the portrait was painted. This would be the years that the baloon sleeves were popular. We are less sure about the laceing. The small collar is also notable. This was a popular style in the 1850s and 60s.

Brown Suit and Red Dress (1859)

Here we have what looks like a colored pencil drawing of two unidentified children. The boy wears a brown suit and the younger child a red dress. We beolieve that this was an accurate depiction of the colors of the suit and dress. Brown was and continues to be a popular color for a boy's suit. He has a small white collar, partially covered by a matching brown bow. The suit has a military style collar-buttoning jacket and long pants. We do not know if the younger child is a boy bor girl. The child wears a low-cut red dress and white long stockings. Besides the useful color information, the interesrting aspect of this naive portrait is that it is done to resesemble a photographic portrait, not a traditional painting. The artist has included an image of himself on the back, but unfortunately not his name. We suspect that he worked in a photographic studio. It is also dated to 1859.

Blue Dress (1860s?)

Here we have a watercolor. The boy is unidentified and we have no idea who the artist was. It is undated, but we would guess it was painted during the 1860s. The puffslleves under the sleeves of the dress were a popular style in the 1850s and 60s. The boy is pictured with his drum wearing a blue dress. The dress has black stripe detailong on the long sleeves and repeated on the front of the skirt. The boy has pantalettes and short socks. His hair is down to his ears.






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Created: March 2, 2002
Last updated: 6:12 PM 5/26/2011