J. B. Martin

French, active mid to late 18th century

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Four illustrations, stacked two by two, show women’s heads, shoulders, and towering, elaborate hairdos in these colored prints. The pale-skinned women all have large eyes under penciled brows, flushed cheeks, delicate chins, and their bow-shaped lips are painted dark pink. The top left picture is titled “Coeffure à la Flore,” and it shows a woman whose blond hair has been teased into a soaring, flaring V shape. Garlands of flowers span the coiffure across the middle and top, which is filled with crinkled white fabric and festooned with three pink and yellow feathers. Thick curls come around the sides of the woman’s neck. Her low-cut bodice is azure blue lined with marigold yellow around the neckline. In the top right, “Pouf à l’Asiatique” shows a woman with similarly tall hair flaring into an improbable V. A gold chain and pendant hangs across the top and down one side. The white fabric here is striped with pale pink and lined with darker magenta. Flowers and feathers are at the upper corners. Thick curls also hug her neck, and the woman’s red dress is lined with a white ruffle and green bow at the deep cleavage. The bottom two women wear tall hats, presumably over similarly teased hair. They face inward toward each other, so we see them mostly in profile. The hat on the woman to our left, titled “Chapeau ou Casque Anglais orné de perles," curves up and away from the woman’s forehead like a dark gray nautilus shell over copper-colored hair. Pearls drape from the white ruffles along the tops and ridges along the side we see. A pink bow holds a yellow ruffle in place just over the short brim, and another pink ribbon hangs down the back of the hat. The woman wears a pink and white dress lined with yet more ruffles, and a yellow and white scarf is tied in a bow around her neck. Finally, “Chapeau à Nouvelle Angleterre” is a white confection also draped with pearls and set with pink and yellow flowers. A topaz-blue ribbon cinches the hat over the ruffled brim. The woman wears black but keeps the ruffled neckline. Each woman is shown against a white background, and the black-outlined frames are separated with bands of dark cream white. An inscription under the bottom pair of portraits reads, “A Paris Esnauts et Rapilly rue St. Jacques à la ville de Coutances. A.P.D.R.”
Various Artists, Guillaume-Francois-Roger Molé, J. Pélicier, Jean Victor Dupin, Etienne Claude Voysard, Francois-Antoine Aveline, René Gaillard, Gallerie des modes et costumes français dessinés d'après nature, gravés par les plus célèbres artistes en ce genre, et colorés avec le plus grand soin par Madame Le Beau (Volume I), 1778/1780, volume bound 1916, bound volume with 198 hand-colored and black and white etchings and engravings with letterpress introduction, Widener Collection, 1942.9.1552

Gallerie des modes et costumes français dessinés d'après nature, gravés par les plus célèbres artistes en ce genre, et colorés avec le plus grand soin par Madame Le Beau (Volume I)

Various Artists, Guillaume-Francois-Roger Molé, J. Pélicier, Jean Victor Dupin, Etienne Claude Voysard, Francois-Antoine Aveline, René Gaillard · 1778/1780, volume bound 1916 · bound volume with 198 hand-colored and black and white etchings and engravings with letterpress introduction ·  Accession ID  1942.9.1552