Figure 1.--This wonderful Robert Peckham (1785-1877) portrait shows two unidentified children wearing similsr dresses, although in different colors. The hair center part of the child in the red dress identifies her as a girl as does her bonnet. The other child is a boy not only because of his hair, but the fact he ius riding the hobby horse nd has a whip. Botice his cap under him. While their dresses anfd pantalettes were virtually identical, headwear was very different. Notice the open collsrs and lacy ruffles. Because the children are unidentified, the portrait is called 'The Hobby Horse'. Wouldn't any kid love to have that hobby horse. Notice that, however, it was not a fafety model which came later. The portrait is undated, but was probablhu painted in the late 1830s. Notice the lamp in the background. We think iy was designed for wale oil, but are not yet positive.

We do not yet have photography in the 1830s hich the limits the number of images. And because psinted prtraits were expensive, kit limits the depictions mostly to the well-to-do. We do have quite a number of painted portraits which unlike photoigraphs have have helpful color information. American portaiture was stull mostly the work of naive artists. But what they lacked in realism, they vert accurately depicted clothing. American prinitive artist Noah North painted many portraits, including families and children. Although he did not master perspective well, his detailed paintings provide a good record of early 19th century fashions before photography was developed. North painted Pierrepont Edward Lacey and his dog, Gun in 1836. Robert Peckham pained sime worderful portraits during the 1830s. Both boys a girls wore long dresses, often in bright colors. We notice the Adams children about 1831 and the Raymond children in 1838. another peckham portrait is unidentified showing a brther and sister wearing similar dresses in different countries e think in the late-1830s (figure 1). We are not sure if the colors have gender cinnotations. o

Created: 8:46 AM 12/16/2014
Last updated: 8:46 AM 12/16/2014