Burney and Defoe

ab. 1792-1793 Francisco Bayeu y Subías - Self-portrait

I wrote a guest post for Frock Flicks on the menswear in Our Flag Means Death, a show that I like a normal amount and have watched a normal number of times. It got much longer than I intended, so this is part 1, and I'll post a link to part 2 when it goes up.

I'm a bit nervous knowing that some of the people who worked on the costumes might see it, so I really really hope I've done an ok job of being fair and accounting for the huge time and budget restraints they had to work with!

One of the earliest known images of a black person by a Scottish artist has been acquired by the National Galleries of Scotland.

The painting, which shows a black woman in an Edinburgh street, is dated to the mid-1780s to early 1790s.

It is unusual in showing a black woman at the centre of a scene, rather than a marginal figure in a group portrait.

It is not known who the woman was, but her dress and the butter churn, suggest she was a servant, possibly a milkmaid.

Alloa-born artist David Allan created drawings of ordinary people going about their daily lives in Edinburgh, including soldiers, coalmen, fishwives, sedan chair porters, firemen and officers of the city guard.

These works, known as Allan's 'Edinburgh Characters', are quite different from this detailed portrait of a specific person.

Christopher Baker, director of European and Scottish art at the National Galleries of Scotland, said: "We are so pleased to bring this remarkable, rare and extraordinary watercolour into Scotland's national collection.

"It is an incredibly striking and special work, one which we believe will be enjoyed by many and, we hope, lead to new research on its background and most importantly the story of the woman depicted."

David Allan was one of the first Scottish artists to paint contemporary life and customs.

With the support of his patrons, Lord and Lady Cathcart of Shaw Park, near Alloa, he travelled to Italy where he drew street scenes.

He took a similar approach when he returned to Scotland, and several of his drawings are already held in The National Galleries of Scotland collection.

Milkmaid with Butter Churn is currently undergoing conservation work but will go on display at a later date.

𝕯𝖆𝖓𝖌𝖊𝖗𝖔𝖚𝖘 𝕷𝖎𝖆𝖎𝖘𝖔𝖓𝖘 + women’s costumes (requested by anon)

A pair of diamond bracelets that belonged to France's Queen Marie Antoinette sold at auction on Tuesday for 7.46 million Swiss francs ($8.18 million), several times the pre-sale estimate, Christie's said.

Rahul Kadakia, Christie's international director of jewelry who conducted the auction, told the Geneva saleroom that the bracelets had stayed in the family for almost 200 years. The buyer was bidding by telephone and not identified.

Tea Table, Artist unknown, 1740, Art Institute of Chicago: American Art

Restricted gift of Sewell L. Avery, Emily Crane Chadbourne, Miss Heath-Jones, Ellen LaMotte, Charles F. Montgomery, Mr. and Mrs. John Trumbull, Russell Tyson, and Elizabeth R. Vaughan through exchange; the Wirt D. Walker Fund Size: 66 × 78.4 × 47.6 cm (26 × 30 7/8 × 18 ¾ in.) Medium: Mahogany

Lavinia Fenton, Duchess of Bolton, William Hogarth, 1740, Tate

Purchased 1884 Size: support: 737 x 584 mm frame: 1085 x 925 x 140 mm Medium: Oil paint on canvas

Without jewels, clothes, or wings there are no kings or servants We are all equal

Suite of Bedroom Furniture, including Kneeling Chair & Fire screen

Jean-Baptiste-Claude Sené

1787

In eighteenth-century France beds ranged from practical cots to extravagant fantasies. This bed was designed to stand lengthwise against the bedroom wall and was set into an alcove curtained off from the room, for privacy. The metal wheels facilitated the easy removal of the bed from its alcove in order to change the linens. The silk textiles and trimmings ordered for the bed and the alcove represented the greatest expense in the interior decoration of the room. The eighteenth-century upholsterer used a luxurious three-colored silk to cover the bed, line the walls of the alcove, and make the bed curtains; the silk and trims have been exactly reproduced.

Chairs with low seats and high backs with padded rails had various functions, depending on their location. This chair, ordered as apart of a set of bedroom furnishings, likely served as a kneeling chair for saying prayer. Voyeuses were also used in gaming rooms; the spectators knelt on the seat and rested their arms on the padded rails of backs while observing games of cards or roulette.