An Unknown Lady In Fancy Dress

Artist Artist Unknown

Mediumwatercolour on ivory

ClassificationsPaintings And Drawings

DimensionsSight Size: Height: 4.9 cm, Width: 4.4 cm
Frame: Height: 6.7 cm, Width: 5.5 cm

AcquisitionTransferred from the Duthie Park Collection.

CopyrightOut of copyright - CC0

LocationView by Appointment - Aberdeen Treasure Hub

Object numberABDAG003603

Keywords

Other Titles

An Unknown Lady with Ringlets & Ruff

About MeThe sitter could be either a member of the Duthie family or Mrs Crombie of Phesdo. If the latter she would have been a relation of the Rev. Dr Alexander Crombie (1762-1840) who by 1822, was resident in Regent's Park London, but inherited Thornton Castle near Phesdo in Kincardineshire. He died in London on 11 June 1840.

She has a hair style with plaited "knot" on the crown and ringlets at the ears and wears a day dress with low draped bodice and the distinctive imbecile (puffed) sleeves of c1830-6 but the dress has had a ruff added - as if a 16th century costume. The prevalent trend of Romanticism from the 1820s up to the mid-1840s, with its emphasis on strong emotion as a source of aesthetic experience and its recognition of the picturesque, was reflected in fashion as in other arts. Items of historical dress including neck ruffs, ferronieres (jeweled headbands worn across the forehead), and sleeves based on styles of earlier periods were popular.