"A woman can never be too fine while she is all in white." ~ Jane Austen, Mansfield Park
That quote was on one of the walls in this special exhibit, which is where I'm finishing this series on the National Gallery. The White Dress is meant as a companion show to the Vigee Le Brun exhibit, with art surrounding this display case of two white muslin dresses from two centuries ago.
This is one of the companion paintings for the exhibit, Young Woman Overtaken By A Storm, an oil painting from 1799 by the French artist Chevalier Fereol De Bonnemaison. It is on loan for this exhibit from the Brooklyn Museum.
This oil portrait was painted by Anne-Louis Girodet De Roucy-Trioson in 1807, and is titled Madame Erneste Bioche de Misery. The painting belongs to the National Gallery. Quite a surname- imagine going through life with Misery as your name. Of course there's the Stephen King character Misery in the book within a book of the same name. And the writer in me thinks it would be a good moniker for a professional assassin going through life trying to hide the fact that her name is Misery. Madame de Misery does look quite glamorous.
That's all for this tour of the National Gallery, but of course I'll be back soon enough. I'll pick up with a Canada Day visit at the Museum of History after the beginning of the month before moving onto other things.
So different from today's clothes.
ReplyDeleteI would love to wear such a dress, just for one night of course.
ReplyDeleteThis was very interesting, thanks for the tour!
ReplyDeleteThe quote applies to Hillary Clinton on the last night of the convention.... if white pantsuits count!
ReplyDeleteYou do such a nice job of taking notes when you are at galleries.
Janis
GDP
Beautiful dresses looks like marble statues.
ReplyDelete@Bill: very different!
ReplyDelete@Marianne: I can only imagine how long it could take to dress.
@Marleen: you're welcome!
@Janis: in this case I tend to photograph display panels.
@Manali: you're right, they do.
Boy, am I glad I didn't live in that period! I'd hate to have to dress like that all the time!
ReplyDeleteOh how frumpy the dresses look. No style or shape. Glad I would not have to wear them.
ReplyDeleteLooks like the kind of dresses my grandmother wore.
ReplyDeletenice pairings for the exhibit.
ReplyDeleteA simple, lovely dress.
ReplyDelete@Norma: of course at the time guys were wearing long socks.
ReplyDelete@Carolann: it was quite a different time.
@Lowell: they did seem eye catching to me.
@Tex: I think it was. The art particularly impressed me.
@Linda: indeed.
You show us the best, and never bore, William
ReplyDeleteYou are right, what a name. However, all her ladies would call her madame, I suppose! :-)
ReplyDeleteA white dress back then and a little black dress now.
ReplyDeleteThe ladies look lovely in white William 😃
ReplyDeleteAt every turn in the National Gallery you find something else to show us.
ReplyDeleteWhat a nice touch to have the real dresses there, William!
ReplyDelete@Cloudia: thanks!
ReplyDelete@Jennifer: I expect so.
@Sharon: apparently white dresses like these were considered scandalous!
@Grace: yes, they do.
@Red: it's a great place to spend time in and explore.
@RedPat: I liked the way they were displayed, so that you could walk around and take them in. And photograph other people looking at them as well from the far sides.
I think those are the fanciest muslin dresses I've ever seen. I love seeing apparel from other periods in history.
ReplyDeleteI like the combination of the display and the paintings.
ReplyDeleteStunning and glamorous.
ReplyDeleteIt is still a lot of material to wear, and, of course, they had all those necessary undergarments. During one era they had to wear like three slips or more under the dress. Ugh!
ReplyDeleteI would love this exhibit!
ReplyDeletegorgeous dress, i feel the last lady reminds me of Dolly Madison. i will go google her, but she is very similar. ( :
ReplyDeleteI like the last painting. Not a nice name for a lady.
ReplyDelete@Kay: it was quite an exhibition.
ReplyDelete@Jan: so do I.
@Revrunner: very much so.
@Mari: true!
@Jackie: I enjoyed it.
@Beth: I can see that.
@Nancy: no, but a memorable one.