`
French boys clothes: De Lesseps family second marriage -- 1881 engraving
Delesseps Family: 1881 Engraving
Figure 1.-- We know that only the three eldest De Lesseps children accompanied their parents to New York in 1880. The arrived following their trip to Panama. Mathieu who was 10 and his younger brother and sister with their parents appeared in an engraving published in "The Graphic Magazine" (January 1, 1881), meaning that the original photograph was taken in 1880. This was an important news magazine at the time. The technology for reproducing photographs was not yet perfected. Mathieu and his brother Ismaël were still wearing dresses like their sister Ferdinande. Click on the image for more details.
|
|
Mathieu and his brother and sister with their parents appeared in an engraving published in The Graphic Magazine (1881). Thuis was an important newsmagazine at the time. The technology for reproducing photographs was not yet perfected. Mathieu and his brother Ismaël were still wearing dresses like their sister Ferdinande.
The Portrait
The portrait here is of the de Lesseps family. The Vicomte de Lesseps was one of the most famous Frenchman of the mid-19th Century because of his role in building the Suez Canal. De Lesseps remarried in 1869. He married Louise-Helene Autard de Bragard of ??????, just after the inauguration of the Suez Canal in 1869. Mlle was much younger than the Vicomte. He was then 64 and she was only 20. They are pictured here with their three oldest chiloden: Mathieu (Pierre) (1870-1953), (Ferdinand Marie) Ismaël (1871-1915), and Ferdinande (Hélène Marie) (1872-1948).
Chronology
We do not know precisely when the photograph that this engraving was based on was taken, but we believe it was 1881. The enraving appeared in a 1881 issue of The Graphic Magazine. The time factor is important here as it helps to better assess just how old the chiodren are in the image here.
Children's Age
We are not precisely sure of the age of the children. A variety of factors are involved, including the precise birth date, when the photograph was taken, and just when in 1881 the engraving here was published. Given the date of publication we believe that the children were: Mathieu (10-11 years old), Ismaël (9-10 years old), and Ferdinande (8-9 years old).
Children's Clothing
All three children were outfitted in what look to be identical dresses. hey look like white dresses and there is no hint of boyish styling. There is no collar, but rather a neckline well away from the neck. This would have been their best part outfits as they were no doubt dressed up for the portrait. I am not sure what they worefor every day. I'm also not sure just when the boys were breached. Most boys by age 9 were already breached, but it was not unknown as in this case for boys to still wear dresses even at age 11. This waa especially the case with children from affluent families who could afford tutors for their children.
Hair Bows
The only important difference that we notice between how Ferdinande and her brothers are dressed that we note is that Ferdinande has a hair bow and the boys do not. Interestingly, we note that in many photographs of the family, the boys as well as the girls wear hair bows.
Engraving
Engraving were made from photographs and pintings. Engraving was an art form in itself. Engraving was also the way in the 19th centuy that illustrations were made for books and magazine. Photographs were not commonly reproduced in newspapers and magazines until after the turn of the 20th century. Wood engravings of drawings were used in most mass circulation publications as late as the 1870s and 1880s. Artists drawings were not directly reproduced. A drawing has to be engraved on a wood block. The resulting blocks would be incorporated with the metal type to be inked and pressed against paper to make
multiple copies of newspapers, magazines and books. The actual drawings of the artist were never seen, only the engraved version. This artists had to adjust their techniques to the engraving process. It also meant two craftsmen were involved, bith the original artists and then the engraver. Some naive or prinmitive artists were also engravers, but few important artists persued engraving. Many 19th century engravings are works of art n themselves. The public, however, desired to see the originals--especally if the engraving was a noatable work of art. High quality engravings, such as bank notes and stamps, that would be reproduced in vast numbers would be done on metal plates.
The Graphic magazine was on of the most notable publications of Victorian England. The magazine was an illustrated weekly publication edited by the social reformer, William Luson Thomas. One of the most important artist working for The Graphic was Luke Fildes. Thomas believed that the inherent power of visual images could be ued to affect public opinion. He was interested in moving public opinion on issues such as poverty and injustice. The first edition of the The Graphic magazine appeared in December 1869. Thomas asked Fildes to illustrate an article on the Houseless Poor Act, a new law that permitted some of the unfortunate people in a work house out for a night. Fildes illustration showed a line of homeless people applying for tickets to stay overnight in the workhouse. The engraving was entitled "Houseless and Hungry" was noted by rtist John Everett Millais. He mentioned it to Charles Dickens who was very impressed. Dickens commissioned Fildes to illustrate his newest novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. The magazine was not entirely devoted to articles with social relevancy, but was a general news magazine. There were many features about notable individuals, such as in this case deLesseps. The illusrrations in The Graphic were engravings. Until the turn of the 20th century, it was not possible to print a photographic. Thus the illustrations in the magazine were engravings like the one seen here. The Graphic magazine did continue printing into the 20th century and began illustrating its articles with photographs after the turn of the century.
Delesseps Engraving Here
The engraving here was published in a 1881 issue of the The Graphic Magazine. Almost certainly the engraving here was based on a photograph (figure 1). That means that the photograph would have been taken earlier. However it does not mean a lot earlier. Magazines especially newsmagazines at the time had staffs to take photographs and produce engravings that could be used in a timely manner. Thus it is likely that the photograph was taken in 181.
ome basic understanding of the history of photography, printing, and publishing is helpful to date early images and to nderstand the impact on fashion through the developing mass media of the 19th century. The development of mass media in the 19th century and improving methods of reproducing drawings and photographs has had a major impact on fashion.
The fashions adopted by royal families and other notables had a limited impact before the 19th century. Only a limited number of people could actually see the royals and other trend
setters and of course few could afford expensive clothes. Once mass circulation magazines and newspapers appeared in the mid-19th century a vehicle developed for diseminating fashion information. This happened just as the industrial revolution was creating wealth on a scale never expeienced in human history giving a growing number of people the finacial ability to dress well. Reproducing drawings was difficult and costly until the 19th century. Great progress was made in the 19th century in printing drawings allowing much more lavish
illistration of newspapers and magazines. This was of course a boon to the fashion industry where such illustrations were critical. Improving lithographic methods enabled the reproduction of detailed drawings. The developing process of photolithography using halftones finally by the turn of the century provided a method of reproducing photographs.By
the end of the century the lithographic process had been essentially perfected and even photograhs could be published, althouh the cost of printing photographs was quite high until
the turn of the 20th century.
HBC
Navigate related Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site pages:
[Return to theMain De Lesseps second marriage children page]
[Return to the Main biographies page]
[Hair styles]
[Collar bows]
[Dresses]
[Kilt suits]
[Kilts]
[Fauntleroy suits]
[Fauntleroy dresses]
[Sailor dresses]
[Pinafores]
[Smocks]
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Introduction]
[Activities]
[Biographies]
[Chronology]
[Clothing styles]
[Countries]
[Bibliographies]
[Contributions]
[FAQs]
[Glossaries]
[Satellite sites]
[Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]
Created: December 4, 2003
Last updated: December 4, 2003