My cheeks are very pink and rosy with flu, so it’s time to return to 18th century pinks with the 1730s!
Previous posts in this series:
As usual, I’ll try to post a painting or print of the time and then an extant item or two from the same time range in a similar shade of pink.
Polyxena of Hesse isn’t afraid to mix colours, with a bold combination of deep rose and scarlet red:
Polyxena of Hesse-Rotenburg by Maria Giovanna Clementi, 1730-35, Madrid, Museum Cerralbo.
Deep rose shoes to match:
Shoes, 1720s-30s
A softer rose features on Carlo’s breeches and jacket lining, and another fetching pair of shoes:.
Jacopo Amigoni, Portrait of the singer Carlo Broschi named Farinelli 1734-35
Pink silk shoes, English, c.1735-1750 Bata Shoe Museum
Here’s an equally vivacious waistcoat:
Man’s waistcoat, silk brocaded with coloured silk, woven in Spitalfields, ca. 1734, VAM T72.1951
This portrait of Jane Clarke is a wonderful example of shot silks in the early 18th century. I wish I’d been able to find an extant item in a similar fabric!
Jane Clark (Mrs. Ezekiel Lewis), John Smibert, 1732
Interestingly a very similar fabric is shown in another American portrait:
Danvers Osborn (1715-1753), Governor of New York, 1736
And on the lower tunic of the Ottoman Empire’s ambassador to Sweden, while two other members of his retinue are attired in salmon:
Georg Engelhard Schröder: Mehmed Said Efendi and his Retinue, 1735
The closest match I could find to those three portraits is this glorious casaquin. Just add in a dark blue cross thread for that shot effect:
Casaquin. Date- ca. 1730 – 1740 Medium- Gros de Tours, orange silk, blue glazed linen lining, gilded silver lace, palaisgalliera.paris.fr
And this mantua has a whole range of pinks:
Mantua, England, 1733-1734 (woven) 1735-1740 (made), Brocaded silk, hand-sewn with spun silk and spun threads, lined with linen, brown paper lining for cuffs, brass, canvas and pleated silk, V&A
Mantua, England, 1733-1734 (woven) 1735-1740 (made), Brocaded silk, hand-sewn with spun silk and spun threads, lined with linen, brown paper lining for cuffs, brass, canvas and pleated silk, V&A
Mantua, England, 1733-1734 (woven) 1735-1740 (made), Brocaded silk, hand-sewn with spun silk and spun threads, lined with linen, brown paper lining for cuffs, brass, canvas and pleated silk detail, V&A
This unknown woman sports a very vivid coral jacket and skirt set, and as the waistcoat and jacket below show, the hue is not an exaggeration.
Portrait of a Lady, attr. to Jonathan Richardson the elder, c. 1730
Waistcoat, 1733–34, probably French, silk, metallic thread, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1991.220
Jacket, 1736-40, exhibited in Gorgeous Georgians at Berrington Hall 2014. From the Charles Paget Wade Collection stored at Berrington Hall
Adélaïde’s sister has soft pink stripes in her beautiful gown, a match to the soft pink shoes below:
Claude Arnulphy (1697–1786), Adélaïde de Gueidan and her sister, 1735-4
Shoes, 1710–49, British, Silk, metallic, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2009.300.4131a, b
I love historical examples of self portraits by women artists, and here’s a delightful one featuring pink trimmings. Some of the same tints are picked up in the brocade jacket below.
Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel-Bevern (1715–1797), Self-portrait as belle jardinière, 1739
Jacket (Casaquin), c. 1730-1750; (fabric c. 1720- 1730, FRANCE silk and gilt brocade, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1331-D4
She must have liked pink because the same colour show up in her ribbon bows in this Pesne portrait of her:
Antoine Pesne, Portrait of Elisabeth Christine von Braunschweig-Bevern, Prussian queen, 1739
Length of Silk, ca 1730, England or the Netherlands, MFA Boston 2005.463
on the other end of the pink spectrum, here’s a very fetching robe volante in a lilac pink:
Jean-Baptiste Pater (1695–1736), Concert Champêtre, circa 1734, Metropolitan Museum of Art , 37.27
Perhaps she wore it with shoes like these, with lilac and cyclamen pink florals;
Pair of women’s shoes with matching clogs, England, early 1730S, MFA Boston, 44.497A-B
This restyled Anglaise features pinks from salmon all the way past lilac pink into purple:
Dress (robe a la anglaise) about 1735, restyled 1763, Silk; brocaded plain weave 1990.513a-b, MFA Boston
And we’ll finish up with a pair of pretty, pretty princesses, one in silver-blue and one in pink:
Attributed to Pierre Gobert, Louise-Élisabeth of France and her little sister Henriette of France (ca 1737)
And a pair of pretty princess worthy shoes with silver gilt trim and rosy pink blossoms:
Pair of women’s mules, 1730s, MFA Boston, 43.1718A-B
