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Court ball dress, May 1840

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- subject matching 'Fashion Plates: Activities and occasions - Court dress'

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Court ball dress, May 1840

published by Dobbs & Co, published in The Court Magazine and Monthly Critic and Lady's Magazine and Museum, first published in Le Follet, Courrier des Salons, Journal des Modes
hand-coloured etching, line and stipple engraving, published May 1840
7 7/8 in. x 5 7/8 in. (201 mm x 149 mm) paper size
Acquired, 1930
Reference Collection
NPG D47858

Artistsback to top

This portraitback to top

Described in the magazine:
Dress of pink satin, over a splendid under dress a l'antique of rich white brocade. The corsage of the dress is tight to the bust; the front is cut in four pieces, and has a very slight point; at top, a small piece is sloped off at each side, rather in the stomacher fashion, and through which appears an under corsage of the same brocade as the front of the skirt. The sleeve of the dress is very short and tight, and covered all but the shoulder strap with three frills of blonde put on so as to sit up; three more, but a great deal deeper, fall down in the usual style (see plate, for the effect of this very elegant sleeve). The skirt of the dress in style of a court train, only reaches to the sides of the waist a little more forward than the arm. It is caught back at distances with full blown roses, with silver buds, five in the length of the skirt; the skirt is likewise ornamented with two splendid blonde flounces of an amazing width; and a similar rose to those on the skirt loops up the three falls of blonde on the sleeve at the front of the arm. The hair is in smooth bands, a double guirlande of small roses crosses the top of the head in two places, finished by a full bouquet of large and small roses, as low as in front of the ear at one side, while a bouquet of silver buds is placed in a corresponding position at the other. The long lappets are of blonde; white kid gloves, only long enough to cover the wrists, the tops trimmed with a puffing of satin ribbon from which depend two flowing ends. White satin shoes; fan.
Sitting Figure - This dress is of blue crape with two deep flounces of white blonde. Sleeves and coiffure the same as the one just described.

Events of 1840back to top

Current affairs

Victoria marries her cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha; he is given the title of Prince Consort.
The Penny Black stamp is introduced by Rowland Hill; the first pre-paid, self-adhesive stamp, it marks the start of the modern postal system.
The start of the Irish potato famine, which by the time of its peak in 1851, had caused the deaths of one million, and contributed to the sharp rise of emigration from Ireland to England and America.

Art and science

Beau Brummel, the fashion leader responsible for sparking the culture of 'Dandyism', dies of syphilis.
The first stone is laid on the new Houses of Parliament, based on the gothic designs by the architects Charles Barry and Augustus Pugin. The old buildings had burned down in 1834, following a blaze caused by burning wooden tallies used by the Exchequer to calculate tax.

International

The Afghans surrender to Britain during the Afghan-British war (1839-42). The war was sparked by British fear over Russian influence in Afghanistan, with the British East India Company resolving to depose the Afghan leader, Dost Muhammad, who was insistent on Afghan independence, and restore the former leader Shoja Shah.
The Maoris yield sovereignty of New Zealand under the Treaty of Waitangi.

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