1800s Fashion Illustrated in Octave Uzanne “L’Art et les Artifices de la beauté” (1902)

Octave Uzanne (1851 – 1931) was a 19th-century French bibliophile, writer, publisher, and journalist.

One of Uzanne’s interests was female fashion, about which he wrote a number of books and articles that were later translated into English.

The  L’Art et les artifices de beauté was first published in 1900.

 

Le manteau d’hermine. — 1840.

L’art Les Artifices de la beauté, 6 ed. Uzanne, Octave. Paris 1902; page 257 via

 

“Le gant en 1830.”

Redrawn version of illustration showing lady wearing long gloves as part of her 1830-style outfit.

Source: L’art et les Artifices de la beauté, 6 ed. Uzanne, Octave. Paris 1902; page 281 via

 

Le boa de fourrure. — 1830.

L’art Les Artirices de la beaute, 6 ed. Uzanne, Octave. Paris 1902; page 256 via

“L’âge romantique des simples guipures.”

Redrawn version of illustration of a woman in ca. late 1820’s clothes playing a harp.

Source: L’art et les Artifices de la beauté, 6 ed. Uzanne, Octave. Paris 1902; page 208 via

“Le parapluie anglais. — 1815.”

Redrawn version of 1815 illustration.

L’art Les Artifices de la beaute, 6 ed. Uzanne, Octave. Paris 1902; page 312 via

 

“L’éventail de plumes. — 1800.”

Rather smudgy redrawing of ca. 1800 illustration showing lady holding a folding fan.

Source: L’Art et les artifices de la beauté, 6 ed. Uzanne, Octave. Paris 1902; page 304 via

 

“Boulevard du Temple” by Louis Daguerre (1838)

“Boulevard du Temple”, taken by Louis Daguerre in 1838 in Paris, includes the earliest known candid photograph of a person. The image shows a busy street, but because the exposure had to continue for several minutes the moving traffic is not visible. At the lower left, however, a man apparently having his boots polished, and the bootblack polishing them, were motionless enough for their images to be captured via

 

Two Well-dressed Victorian Couples by Pierre-Louis Pierson (1870s)

Pierre-Louis Pierson, Young Couple (Circle of Duc d’Aumale), 1870s, France via

Pierre-Louis Pierson, Military Officer and Woman (Circle of Duc d’Aumale), 1870s, France via

Three portraits of Princess Victoria, Duchess of Kent and Strathearn (1820s-1830s)

Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (17 August 1786 – 16 March 1861), later Duchess of Kent and Strathearn, was a German princess and the mother of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.

In 1818 she married Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn (1767–1820 ). The couple were married on 29 May at Amorbach and on 11 July at Kew, a joint ceremony at which Edward’s brother, the Duke of Clarence, later King William IV, married Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen.

Shortly after the marriages, the Kents moved to Germany, where the cost of living would be cheaper.

Soon after, Victoria became pregnant, and the Duke and Duchess, determined to have their child born in England, raced back, arriving at Dover on 23 April 1819, and moved into Kensington Palace, where she soon gave birth to a daughter, Princess Alexandrina Victoria of Kent.

Princess Victoria, Duchess of Kent and Strathearn by Richard James Lane, published by Thomas Boys, after Alfred Edward Chalon lithograph, published 1838 © National Portrait Gallery, London via

Princess Victoria, Duchess of Kent and Strathearn by Thomas Woolnoth, after George Dawe stipple engraving, published 1820 © National Portrait Gallery, London via

Princess Victoria, Duchess of Kent and Strathearn by James Bromley, published by Paul and Dominic Colnaghi & Co, after Sir George Hayter mezzotint, published 1835 © National Portrait Gallery, London via

Three Portraits of Queen Adelaide (Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen) (1830s)

Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen (1792 – 1849) was the queen consort of the United Kingdom and of Hanover as spouse of William IV of the United Kingdom. William IV was King of the United Kingdom and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death. The third son of George III, William succeeded his elder brother George IV, as the last king and penultimate monarch of Britain’s House of Hanover.

Adelaide was beloved by the British people for her piety, modesty, charity, and her tragic childbirth history. A large portion of her household income was given to charitable causes. She also treated the young Princess Victoria of Kent (William’s heir presumptive and later Queen Victoria) with kindness, despite her own inability to produce an heir and the open hostility between William and Victoria’s mother, the Dowager Duchess of Kent.

She died during the reign of her niece on 2 December 1849 of natural causes at Bentley Priory in Middlesex and was buried at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor.

Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia, is named after her

Queen Adelaide (Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen) by John Cochran, after Fanny Corbaux stipple engraving, 1820s-1830s. © National Portrait Gallery, London via

Queen Adelaide (Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen) by Thomas Goff Lupton, after Sir William Beechey, mezzotint, published 1834 © National Portrait Gallery, London via

Queen Adelaide (Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen) by Samuel William Reynolds, published by Martin Colnaghi, after Sir William Beechey, mezzotint, published September 1831 © National Portrait Gallery, London via

 

Outstanding Engraving of Scene in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (1833)

Elizabeth tells her father that Darcy was responsible for uniting Lydia and Wickham, one of the two earliest illustrations of Pride and Prejudice. The clothing styles reflect the time the illustration was engraved (the 1830s), not the time in which the novel was written or set

(Pickering & Greatbatch – Pride and Prejudice A Novel by Jane Austen London: Richard Bentley. (Successor to H. Colburn) Cumming, Dublin, Bell & Bradfute, Edinburgh Galignani, Paris 1833.) via 

Beautiful Elizabeth Taylor in historical film Beau Brummell (1954)

George Bryan “Beau” Brummell (1778 – 1840) was an iconic figure in Regency England, the arbiter of men’s fashion, and a friend of the Prince Regent, the future King George IV.

Beau Brummell is a 1954 American-British historical film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. According to MGM records the film earned $1,049,000 in the US and $1,652,000 elsewhere. It made a loss of $383,000.

However, in recent years the film has attained a considerable cult status and popularity, largely because of the story of British high society in the colorful Napoleonic and Regency Eras and because of memorable performances by Granger, Taylor, Ustinov and Morley as “Mad King George III”.

Elizabeth Taylor by Virgil Apger in “Beau Brummell” directed by Curtis Bernhardt, 1954 via

Elizabeth Taylor by Virgil Apger in “Beau Brummell” directed by Curtis Bernhardt, 1954 via

Elizabeth Taylor by Virgil Apger in “Beau Brummell” directed by Curtis Bernhardt, 1954 via

Elizabeth Taylor by Virgil Apger in “Beau Brummell” directed by Curtis Bernhardt, 1954 via

Elizabeth Taylor by Virgil Apger on the set of “Beau Brummell” directed by Curtis Bernhardt, 1954 via

Elizabeth Taylor by Virgil Apger on the set of “Beau Brummell” directed by Curtis Bernhardt, 1954 via

Elizabeth Taylor by Virgil Apger in “Beau Brummell” directed by Curtis Bernhardt, 1954 via