Born in 1808: 1840s

Showing posts with label 1840s. Show all posts

Friday, 24 May 2013

Celebrating the anniversary of Queen Victoria's Birthday. Images of Englands virtuous Queen.

Today (May 24th) marks the 194th anniversary of Queen Victoria's Birthday. It always saddens me how often I see Victoria portrayed as the stereotypical post Albert old lady in black, especially during events that are aiming at the era before Albert's death (pre 1861). So to celebrate her birthday here are my favourite images of Queen Victoria during her heyday, from the beginning of her reign at the age of 18 to the death of her beloved Albert in December 1861 when she was 42.

Queen Victoria c.1839

Queen Victoria by John Partridge 1840 the Royal Collection

Queen Victoria, Henry Pierce Bone, 1840. Photo: Royal Collection

Queen Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria) (1819-1901) by Charles Brocky in 1841.

Queen Victoria, William Essex, 1841. Photo: Royal Collection.

Queen Victoria

by Mrs Edwin Dalton (Magdalena Ross), after Sir William Charles Ross

lithograph, 1843

Queen Victoria (1819-1901) by Robert Thorburn in 1844

Queen Victoria (1819-1901) by Franz Xaver Winterhalter in 1845.

The Royal Collection

Queen Victoria by unknown artist. 1840s.

Queen Victoria 1845

Queen Victoria 1847 Franz Xaver Winterhalter

Queen Victoria with Prince Arthur 1850 Franz Xaver Winterhalter

Queen Victoria, 1850s.

The Cousins: Queen Victoria and Victoire, Duchesse de Nemours by Franz Xaver Winterhalter 1852

wikipaintings

5th July 1854 Photograph showing a three-quarters length right profile portrait of a seated Queen Victoria at Buckingham Palace. She rests a photographic portrait of Prince Albert on her lap. In July 1854, Queen Victoria commissioned Duppa to take a photograph of her, as a surprise for her husband. The portrait shows the Queen holding a framed copy of a portrait of Prince Albert taken by the same photographer a few months earlier.

The Royal Collection

Queen Victoria photographed in her wedding gown by Roger Fenton in 1854

Queen Victoria 1855 Franz Xaver Winterhalter

Queen Victoria 1856 by Charles Lucien Louis Muller.

Handtinted image of Prince Albert and Queen Victoria c.1850s

Vicky with Victoria 1857

Queen Victoria c.1850s

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, ca 1860

1860 Queen Victoria by John Jabez Edwin Mayall (The Royal Collection)

Queen Victoria with Princess Beatrice c.1861

Queen Victoria by John Jabez Edwin Mayall 1861

Queen Victoria via Grand Ladies

Sunday, 10 March 2013

Mother's Day

It's Mother's Day (or Mothering Sunday) here in the UK, so I thought I'd share some of my favourite mother & child photographs.......

Unidentified young girl and mother

Powerhouse Museum Collection

Portrait of woman holding a baby ca. 1860

George Eastman House

Unidentified mother with daughter wearing white dress - Thomas M. Easterly

Missouri History Museum

Untitled (Mother and Daughter) c.1850s

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Mother & Son ca.1855

Smithsonian American Art Museum

c.1850 Nordic Museum

Unidentified Mother & Child ca.1850

George Eastman House

Young Happy Mother Daguerreotype

Mirror Image Gallery

Wednesday, 27 February 2013

The life & age of woman - two 1840s lithographs

I found these two interesting lithographs depicting the stages of a woman's life in the 1840s. Dated at approximately a year apart they both look very similar in appearance. However the rhymes underneath the stages of womanhood convey quite a varying viewpoint, especially towards the elderly. It is also interesting to see the portrayal of dress for each stage of life, seeing what was considered "age appropriate" at the time.

A particular stanza from the 1848 version reminded me of an incident when I was researching my family tree. My Great g. g. g. grandmother Archer Betman was born in 1772 and married and agricultural labourer Robert Hood. Over the course of 20 years she gave birth to at least 11 children, her last when she was 50 years old (Mardline who did not survive infancy). In 1845 Robert died at the respectable age of 74 leaving Archer as a 73 year old widow. At some point between the death of her husband and the 1851 census Archer became a pauper and with non of her family prepared or able to look after her she entered a workhouse. Archer died on the 23rd September 1868 at Elham Work House at the age of 96, she was survived by at least four of her children. "A useless cumberer on the earth, From house to house they send her forth"

The Life and age of woman, stages of woman's life from the cradle to the grave. New York : James Baillie, c1848. wikimedia commons

Baby

In swaddling clothes behold the bud,

Of sweet and gentle womanhood.

Next she foreshews with mimic plays,

The business of her future days.

Now glorious as a full-blown flower,

The heart of manhood feels her power.

A Husband now her arms entwine

She clings around him like the vine.

Now bearing fruit, she rears her boys

And tastes a mother's pains and joys

Like sparkling fountain gushing forth,

She proves a blessing to the earth.

A busy housewife full of cares,

The daily food her hand prepares.

As age creeps on she seeks for grace,

Always to church and in her place.

Now second childhood loosens all her tongue,

She talks of love and prattles with the young

A useless cumberer on the earth,

From house to house they send her forth.

100

Chained to her chair by weight of years,

She listless knits till death appears.

"The Life & Age of Woman - Stages of Woman's Life from the Cradle to the Grave", a ca. 1849 wikipedia

1) Infant in cradle:
A wailing infant, first she plays,
Unconscious of her future days.

2) Young girl with doll:
Her girlish pastimes reveal for show
The cares which woman's life must know.

3) Late teen girl in grownup clothes:
Her ripened beauty all confess
And wonder at her loveliness.

4) Bride in white dress and veil:
A husband's arms, in hope and pride,
Enclasp her now, a lovely bride.

5) Young mother holding baby:
A mother's anxious love and care
With toilful(?) heart is hers to share.

6) Dressed to go outdoors:
Now to the poor her hands dispense
the blessings of benevolence.

7) Middle-aged woman (first declining step):
Absorbed in household duties now,
The weight of toil(?) contracts her brow.

8) In black bonnet and holding handkerchief :
She now resigns all earthbound care
And lifts her soul to heaven in prayer.

9) Old, wearing spectacles:
At eighty years, her well-stored mind
Imparts its blessings to her kind

10) Bent over, using cane:
The hoary head, us all should bless,
Who abound in ways of righteousness.

11) Sitting in chair, knitting:
The body sinks and wastes away,
The spirit cannot know dismay.

You can view larger versions of both these lithographs by clicking on the source links.

Wednesday, 20 February 2013

Inspirational primary resources - Part 3 Paintings

I love looking at paintings for costume inspiration. They are available for all periods, are often rich in detail and colour and cover a variety of subjects. They are also great snippets of social history; the countess in her finery, a family receiving visitors, a day at the races, each moment a time capsule captured by the artist. Of course we have to be slightly wary of artistic interpretation. Often images of the working classes were romanticised, people may have received the 19th century equivalent of photoshopping, and of course there may be degrees of artistic license in any painting. But even then when these changes are obvious, it can tell us something about the society in which these artists and the subjects lived. I think that's what my favourite thing is about viewing period paintings, peeking through the looking glass into the 19th century; seeing the lady at boudoir in her morning wrapper, a frozen snapshot of the hustle and bustle of the Victorian seaside resort with all it's paraphernalia, little cameos of Victorian life for us to share. Here are some of my favourite paintings from the period 1830 - 1865, with focus on the costume content. The last painting is a particular favourite as it is Ramsgate, the town in which i grew up.