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'Demi-toilet and public promenade dress', July 1844

5 of 43 portraits by George Henderson

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'Demi-toilet and public promenade dress', July 1844

published by George Henderson, published in The Ladies' Cabinet of Fashion, Music and Romance
hand-coloured etching, published July 1844
7 1/2 in. x 4 3/4 in. (192 mm x 120 mm) paper size
Acquired, 1930
Reference Collection
NPG D47926

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The plate was described in the August issue of the magazine:
Demi-Toilet. Light blue taffetas robe, a high corsage tight to the shape, and trimmed round the top with a lace ruche. Short sleeve descending a little below the elbow; it is close to the arm at the top, but rather wide at the bottom, where it turns up in two folds; deep mancheron of the same form. The skirt is trimmed with tucks. Capote of straw-coloured crape bouillonné, a very close shape simply trimmed with ribbon to correspond. Barege scarf, with the ends richly figured rosaces[?].
Public Promenade Dress. Foulard robe quadrilled in two shades of lilac, the corsage half high behind, but open on the bosom, displaying a cambric chemisette made quite high, and filled round the top with Valenciennes lace; the corsage is trimmed with a ruche of the material of the dress, and partially laced with silk cord. Demi-long sleeve of the half Chinese form, trimmed at the bottom with a ruche; under-sleeve of muslin bouillonné terminated by a lace ruffle. The skirt is trimmed very high with a biais, headed by a ruche. Chapeau of green poult de sole, covered with crape of the same hue drawn in large runners; the shape is round and moderately close; the interior is trimmed with half wreaths of white roses without foliage; the exterior with green ribbon, and a superb white willow plume spotted with lilac.

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Current affairs

Britain experiences a railway boom. Peel's government passes a series of Acts creating provision of cheap, regular rail services. George Hudson, the first great railway entrepreneur, who controlled over 1,000 miles of railway track and whose enterprises made York a major commercial and transport hub, becomes known as 'the Railway King'.

Art and science

Disraeli's Coningsby is published. The first of his 1840s 'Young England' trilogy, it was the cultural manifesto of Disraeli's vision for a new Conservativism.
David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson set up their innovative and pioneering photography studio in Edinburgh, capturing portraits of both Scottish society figures and workers, as well as urban and rural landscape scenes.

International

Tensions continue to mount in Eastern Europe over Russian imperialist ambitions, as Tsar Nicholas I describes the Ottoman Empire as 'the Sick Man of Europe'.
With the overthrow of the Haitians, the Spanish-speaking portion of the island of Hispaniola gains independence, as the Dominican Republic.

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