THE VINTAGE THIMBLE

18th Century Woman’s Hairstyles A collection of 18th Century paintings from France & England, depicting some of the hairstyles of the time, among them the tête de mouton (or “sheep’s head”), the pouf & the hérisson (or “hedgehog”).

Interestingly as I was gathering paintings for this reference , I came across this excerpt regarding the elaborate hairstyles that were fashionable during the 1770’s from Marie-Antoinette Mother, Queen Maria Theresa to Marie-Antoinette.

In 1775, Queen Maria Theresa of Austria-Hungary wrote to her daughter Marie-Antoinette -“Likewise I cannot help but touch upon a point that many of the papers repeat to me too often: it is the hairstyle that you wear. They say that from the roots it measures 36 pouces high and with all the feathers and ribbons that hold all of that up! You know that I have always been of the opinion that one should follow fashion moderately, but never carry it to excess. A pretty young queen full of charms has no need of all these follies. Quite the contrary. A simple hairstyle suits her better and is more appropriate for a queen. She must set the tone, and everyone will hurry to follow even your smallest errors…”

Marie-Antoinette responded - “It is true that I am a bit occupied by my hairstyle, and as for the feathers, everyone wears them, and it would look extraordinarily out of place not to” (source: Hosford, Desmond. “The Queen’s Hair: Marie-Antoinette, Politics, and DNA.”).

Men’s Hairstyles Victorian [x] Woman’s Hairstyles Victorian [x] | Edwardian [x] | 1920’s [x] | 1930’s [x] | WW2 [x]

Portrait of Mathilde de Canisy. 1738, oil on canvas, 118 x 96 cm. Jean-Marc Nattier Paris, 1685 - Paris, 1766 | Musee Jaquemart Andre

Portrait Of The Artist's Brother Arthur Hacker.1882. Oil on canvas. | Athenaeum

Self-portrait (1842) by Johann Baptist Reiter (1813-1890).

Portrait of Queen Jadwiga Anjou (reign: 1373/4 – 1399). Circa 1768-1771. Oil on tin plate. By Marcelego Bacciarellego. [source]

Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough wearing the symbol of her office and authority - the gold key, by Sir Godfrey Kneller. Circa 1700. | NPG

Maria Alexandrova by Ivan Kosmich Makarov, oil on canvas, 1840s. Maria Alexandrovna in a court dress with traditional kokoshnik.

The Coronation Robes of Paul I 1797 Paul I, son of Peter III and Catherine the Great, came to the throne in 1796 after his mother’s long reign. For his coronation, he wore a uniform that he had designed himself in the style of Prussian military uniform. The day after his coronation, the emperor ordered all the imperial regiments including the two life guards regiments, Semenovsky and Preobrazhensky, to adopt the same style. Paul I was the first Russian emperor to wear military uniform at his coronation. His interest in uniforms was echoed by Great Britain’s Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), who was colonel of several regiments and collected uniforms. When Napoleon Bonaparte became Emperor of France in 1802, he began to wear his army uniform for everyday dress. Coronation coat - Russia, 1796. The coat - cloth, velvet, camlet, cotton cloth, gold, silver, enamel, weaving, embroidery, casting, engraving. The garment was transfered to the Armoury Chamber in 1797. The coat's lining bears two inscriptions with dates of its execution and of the very coronation. The coat has a multipurpose fastener which can be used variously depending on the circumstances. The stars of the Order of St Andrew and the Order of St Alexander Nevsky with silver and gold pieces are sewn on the front of the clothing. Boots- Russia, the late XVIIIth century. Leather, steel spurs. Waistcoat - Russia, 1796. Wool, cloth, weaving, gilding. The short jacket, close-fitting in the waist, has no collar or sleeves. Its front side is completed with a fastener. Hat - France, the XVIIIth century. Felt, leather, cotton cloth, braid, plume, lace, foil, gold treads, weaving. Gloves - Russia, the late XVIIIth century. Elk skin. Portrait of Paul I - Stepan Shchukin, circa 1796. Sources ↳ V&A | The Moscow Kremlin | The State Hermitage Museum

The Pink Dress (Albertie-Marguerite Carré, later Madame Ferdinand-Henri Himmes, 1854–1935) Berthe Morisot (French, Bourges 1841–1895 Paris), ca 1870, oil on canvas. The fashionable portraitist Jacques-Emile Blanche, a friend of Berthe Morisot, recollected how and when this painting was made at the Villa Fodor, the family home of Marguerite Carré, the sitter: "One day, she [Morisot] painted before my eyes a charming portrait of Mlle Marguerite in a light pink dress; indeed, the entire canvas was light. Here Berthe Morisot was fully herself, already eliminating from nature both shadows and half-tones." But the painting required several sessions, since Morisot "constantly changed her mind and painted over what she had done once the session was at an end . . . ." "The Pink Dress" is one of the artist's few surviving early works. | THE MET

Agnolo Bronzino, Italian Painter, Mannerist. b. 1503 Monticelli, Italy, d. 1572 Florence, Italy Fashion: 1500s Italy. 1. Portrait of Maria de' Medici, 1553 2. Lucrezia Panciatichi, 1540 ✦ | ✦ 3. Eleanora of Toledo with her son Giovanni de Medici - 1544-5 4. Portrait of a Lady with a Puppy, c.1534 ✦ | ✦ 5. Portrait of a girl with book, 1545 ✦ | ✦ Woman and her Little Boy, 1540s

`MISS VERNON' attributed to William Hoare of Bath R A (1707-92). She was one of the 1st Lord Berwick's sisters-in-law. Shows Miss Vernon in a white Riding Habbit, and blue scarf. | NATIONAL TRUST IMAGES

Emma, Lady Hamilton by Johann Heinrich Schmidt, circa 1800. This miniature was painted in Dresden at the request of Horatio Nelso when he, Emma and Sir William Hamilton were traveling en route to England from Palermo 1800-01. In it Emma wears the Cross of Malta, given her for deeds of charity for the Maltese nation. Lady Hamilton wears a scarf that encloses her entire neck and a dress without a separate bodice. Nelson kept this portrait always and called in Santa Emma. During the time it was painted Emma was carrying her and Nelson's first child, Horatia. He had it with him when in died during the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. | National Maritime Museum

1826 Rosamund Hester Elizabeth Pennell Croker, later Lady Barrow at seventeen by Sir Thomas Lawrence (Albright-Knox Gallery - Buffalo, New York USA) This is a good illustration of Empire dress morphing into something else. She wears upper puffed sleeves in good Empire style, but the sleeves are sheathed in long sheer over-sleeves. She wears a décolletage worthy of Empress Josephine, but the square is spread to an off shoulder bateau with sweetheart center, a Lawrence favorite. Her skirt is probably trim, but A-line. Her waistline is at or close to natural position.

Lady Selina Meade (c.1793-1872), artist unknown. Lady Selina wears an Empire or early post-Napoléonic dress with diaphanous sleeves under a hurluberlu coiffure with bun. | Bonham's

Elizabeth of Austria is portrayed by the French court painter François Clouet in a brocade gown and a partlet with a lattice of jewels, 1571. The lattice partlet is a common French fashion.

Portrait of Marie-Louise de Tassis, by Anthony Van Dyck, 1630. Marie-Louise de Tassis wears a short-waisted gown with a sash over a tabbed bodice with a long stomacher and matching pettiicoat and virago sleeves, c. 1629–30.

The Empress Eugenie Tiara.The tiara was a present from Emperor Napoleon III of France to Countess Eugenie de Montijo upon their marriage in 1853. The crown jewlers Gabriel Lemonnier and Francois Kramer are its makers. | See the full painting of Eugenie wearing the tiara.