Robe à la Polonaise, plate 51

Date1779

Engraver Nicolas Dupin

After work by Pierre-Thomas LeClerc (ca. 1740 - ca. 1799)

Publisher Esnauts & Rapilly (fl. ca. 1775-1811)

OriginEurope, France, Paris

MediumHand-colored etching and line engraving

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1971-3081

DescriptionPrint is from Galeries des Modes, 23e Cahier, 2e Figure

Upper right corner reads: "51"
Lower margin reads: "Dessine par Le Clerc/ Grave par Dupin/ Robe a la Polonoise de toille blanche a brodure de toille peinte, un Tablier de gaz. la coeffure est un Chapeau garnie a la mode./ A Paris ches Esnauts et Rapilly rue S.t Jacques a la Ville de Coutances. A.P.D.R."

Translation:
Robe à la Polonaise of white linen with a border of painted linen, a gauze Apron; the coiffure is a Hat trimmed fashionably.

The Galerie des Modes provides futher information on this plate. It reads:

Robe a la Polonaise, of white linen, with borders or edgings. These gowns seem so comfortable, especially in the country, that Women were eager to give them the most favorable reception. It is true that theese gowns give service only momentarily: soon it is necessary to restore them to their first whiteness. But it seems that nothing can resist the desire to satisfy the fair sex; the Calenderers have found the means of rendering these Gowns to their original luster, without being obligated to take them apart, nor remove their trim, and this discovery must certainly make an epoch in the History of Fashion.
Label TextThis plate was published in the French fashion periodical "Gallerie des Modes et du Costume Francais." This fashion plate depicts a woman wearing a Robe a la Polonaise of white linen with a border of "toile peinte." She wears a gauze apron and a "fashionably trimmed" hat.