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Riding dress and home dinner dress, August 1846

2 of 18 portraits by Elizabeth Henderson

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Riding dress and home dinner dress, August 1846

published by Elizabeth Henderson, published in The Ladies' Cabinet of Fashion, Music and Romance
hand-coloured etching, published August 1846
7 7/8 in. x 4 3/4 in. (199 mm x 121 mm) paper size
Acquired, 1930
Reference Collection
NPG D47971

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Described in the magazine:
Riding Dress. Habit of green ladies' cloth of a thin and very fine kind. The corsage descends in deep basquines; it is ornamented with buttons and passementerie. The collar forms collar and lappels, and is very deep. Long tight sleeve, open at the bottom, displaying a full cambric under sleeve. Cambric habit-shirt frilled with the same round the throat, and down the fronts, the frill small plaited. Grey beaver hat turned up at the sides, and trimmed with a long rose-coloured feather, a rosette of rose ribbon is attached at each side, from which bands descend and tie under the chin. Rose coloured taffeta neck knot.
Home Dinner Dress. Spotted muslin robe, the corsage is half-high behind, but open in front nearly to the waist, and trimmed with a heart pelerine of two falls. Demi long sleeve rather wide at the lower part, open towards the elbow, and festooned, as is the pelerine, at the edge. Four rows of trimming similarly festooned are disposed en tablier. Ceinture of blue ribbon tied in short bows and long ends in front. Tulle cap, a round shape trimmed with a bouquet of exotics. Embroidered muslin guimpe.

Events of 1846back to top

Current affairs

The Conservative Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel divides his own party by repealing the unpopular Corn Laws, which prohibited the import of cheap grain from overseas, viewed by many as causing the famines in Ireland (which peaked in this year), as well as domestic hardships following a bad harvest. Peel, defeated on a separate issue, resigns. The Whig Earl Russell becomes Prime Minister.

Art and science

Ether is used for the first time as anaesthetic in an operation by the dentist William Morton, while surgeon John Collins Warren removes a tumor on a patient's neck.
Edward Lear, the popular humourist and artist, and author of illustrated nonsense verse (including 'The Owl and the Pussycat'), publishes his Book of Nonsense.

International

The first Anglo-Sikh war ends with the Treaty of Lahore, by which Jammu and Kashmir are ceded to the British. The war had been fought between the Sikh kingdom of the Punjab and the British East India Company, with conflict escalating after internal disorder in the Punjab led the East India Company to increase their military presence on the border.

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