A Most Beguiling Accomplishment

I haven't done a post about a painting in a long time! But this painting is the St. Lawrence County Historical Association 's Object of the Week, and I'm taking the opportunity to write more for those members of our Facebook page who'd like more information than will tidily fit in a post there. (And to link back to the museum where I curate for those readers here who might like to follow it!) Portrait of Susan Brown Moody, 1830-1835; SLCHA 1988-8.1 This portrait was initially purchased by the museum at Sotheby's in 1988 as "Clarissa Moody Wright in her wedding bonnet". Let's really dig into the clothing on view here, and then I'll talk some more about why this piece is of such interest to the SLCHA. A dark-colored gown is very common on sitters in folk portraits, but it's not always so common to see this much detail! Quite often, the dress is a kind of dark mass that sets off the whitework on the cap and pelerine. Here, we can see tha...

I don't even remember what  I was researching at the time, but as I went browsing through sources from the mid-18th century, I came across the play Polly Honeycombe , written in 1760 by George Coleman the Elder. It's a short farce about a girl who reads so many novels that she interprets her life through their tropes and clichés; unlike you'd expect, she ends up on top and never learns her lesson. In the preface, Coleman shares his mother's criticism of the piece, as well as a long excerpt from a letter she supposedly wrote to him, sharing her experience on a visit to the mercer's to buy fabric for clothes for the general mourning: The goodwoman [the mercer's wife] was sitting alone (the two girls being, it seems, gone to see the scaffolding in Westminster Abbey) industriously employed in making up her own mourning; but her daughters gowns, just come from the Mantua-maker's, lay in the window; and black caps, black fans, black gloves, &c. from the mil...

Last year, I invested in the Kickstarter for Marion McNealy's annotated reprint of the 1924 Corset Cutting & Making , by William D. F. Vincent. And I'm very glad I did, because it's here and it's wonderful! The book starts with an introduction explaining the context of the original - it was probably started before World War I, then set aside for several years, lightly updated, and published - and the amount of work McNealy had to do to turn the rather slapdash content into a useful book. This is followed by a section on the materials and construction methods used in corsetry in the early twentieth century, the latter mostly taken from Vincent's own text. Because the original was intended to be published earlier than 1924, most of the patterns are pre-war. (I don't believe they were dated in the original, but McNealy's dating appears to be very sound.) All in all, the book contains patterns for: 2 fashionable corsets between 1900 and 1910, 3 fa...

December 1835 RECEIPTS. WINE MARROW PUDDING. Boil half a pound of the finest and freshest marrow in a pint of new milk, with a bit of lemon peel, cinnamon, and half a leaf of laurel. Pour it over the sliced crumb of a three penny loaf, or the same quantity of French bread; and, covering it up, let it stand till quite cold. Beat up well, in the mean time, six yolks with three whites of eggs, a quarter of a pound of powdered loaf sugar, two ounces of blanched and pounded almonds, and a little orange-flower water; add this mixture to the cold marrow and milk, and bake it in a dish with puff paste around it. Washed and picked currants, with syrup of cloves or nutmegs, a little brandy, and some slices of candied citron and orange peel, with any other sweetmeats, may be added, if required to be very rich. The marrow, too, instead of being boiled with the milk, may be minced very small, and strewed over the French bread; or rather on Naples biscuits. Marrow puddings made in either ...

November 1835 RECEIPTS. BROWN AND WHITE VERMICELLI SOUPS. Boil two ounces of vermicelli in three quarts of beef or veal stock, for about twenty minutes; skimming it, and seasoning to palate: this will be sufficient for preparing the common brown vermicelli soup. White vermicelli soup, however, should be made in the following manner: -- Blanch two ounces of vermicelli, in the usual way, by putting it over the fire in cold water; and, on its boiling up, strain it off, and throw it into fresh cold water; for, were it to continue draining in the sieve while hot, it would become lumpy, and not again dissolve. After straining it, when quite cold, dry from the water, boil it in three quarts of veal stock, or broth, for a quarter of an hour; rub it through a tammy; season it to palate; and make a leason of four eggs, and half a pint of boiled cream gradually added, with or without a table-spoon of béchamel. Put the leason to the soup, off the fire, stirring it all the time: then set...

October 1835 FASHIONS FOR OCTOBER. Hats are mostly made of India silk, the colour according to fancy - dresses to please the taste of the wearer, made after the manner of the engraving. - Artificials are mostly used, thought some prefer feathers. Yes, that is all they give to explain this plate.

September 1835 RECEIPTS. EAU DE BOUQUET. Take of sweet scented honey water 1 oz., eau sans pareille,* 1 1-2 do., essence de jasmin, 5 drachms, syrup of cloves and spirit of violets, each, 4 dr., calamus aromaticus,* long rooted cyperus,* lavender, each, 2 do., essence of neroli,* 1 scruple.* Mix. Some add a few grains of musk and ambergris: it is sweet scented, and also made into a ratafia with sugar. * Eau sans pareille , "unequalled water," is another perfume, made with citrus fruits; you can see some recipes here . Calamus aromaticus is Acorus calamus , or sweet flag, and Asian plant historically used in medicine and perfumes. Cyperus  is a genus containing hundreds of species of plants; I don't know which is meant here. Neroli is bitter orange. A scruple is 1/24 of an ounce. ESSENCE DE JASMIN. The flowers are stratified with wool or cotton, impregnated with oil of behu, or nut oil, in an earthen vessel, closely covered, and kept for some time in a wa...