A Striking Persimmon Sack Back, c1760s

Now closed, I was fortunate to tour the Casanova exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston this summer. It was a lavish and bold exhibition; a feast for the senses—as one might imagine for one with the appetites (many quite unsavory) of Casanova and the 18^thcentury world he traversed.

One of the entrancing tableaux was of an elite woman’s morning ritual – her toilette. Seated at her dressing table, there are shenanigans occurring behind her, presumably between her husband and ladies maid, passing a letter between them.

Each mannequin in this tripartite ensemble is of interest. For this post, I focus on the striking persimmon orange robe a la francaise (or sack back) open robe with compere (a variation of a stomacher often with buttons like a waistcoat) front, double-flounced pagoda sleeve ruffles and pocket slits at each hip.  It is two parts (robe, petticoat), c1760s

For information on the sack back, see: www.mfa.org https://www.mfa.org/collections/object/womans-dress-in-two-parts-robe-petticoat-556860

A Fashionable Neoclassical Dress, 1800-1805

This formal dress, c. 1800-1805, of white cotton gauze, features small floral sprays across the textile. It is detailed with a border design “composed of vine and a modified Greek fret worked in a chain stitch with fine red and white wool.”  This is a classic example of what is known as the Regency, Empire or Neoclassical style which began in the last decade of the 18^thcentury (post-American and French Revolutions) and continued to inspire women’s fashions into the 1820s, and in some places, beyond.

A dress like this would not have been out of place in the first quarter of 19^thcentury in Boston. By the time of Henry Sargent’s painting of The Tea Party(c.1824) showing the elegant attire of the age – although clad in long columnar dress, with shawls and hats of every variety, we begin to see additions of pouf sleeves, decorated hems, fancy trimmings altering the silhouette and profile. The setting for this elegant gathering was none other than Boston’s Beacon Hill, and is a companion piece to his masculine habitués detailed in The Dinner Party.[1]

 (Via the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston https://www.mfa.org/collections/object/formal-dress-67396⁾

Accession #22.665

1. For additional information on Sargent’s painting, see Jane C. Nylander, “Henry Sargent’s Dinner Party and Tea Party,” Magazine Antiques, May 1982.

The Hancocks of Boston in Wool, Silk & Linen

 

Hannah Otis’s (1732-1801) sampler “View of Boston Common” (c. 1750, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) is a charming and significant pictorial narrative, capturing life in Boston prior to the Revolution.  The connection of the sampler to a significant New England family, the documentary nature and large over-mantel size all serve to distinguish it as a preeminent example of school girl skill and, in this case, creativity. It is embroidered in wool and silk on a linen canvas.

This sampler is a delight, and the more time one takes to examine it, the more one sees. Note the British flag waving energetically above the pre-Revolutionary blockhouse, for example. Of particular interest is the representation of the impressive Georgian style Hancock Mansion (demolished in 1863) with its fences, orchards and parterres. The elegant occupants are enjoying the bountiful and exuberant landscape, peppered with unusual birds, animals and over scaled plantings, which  Hannah Otis has created for them.  The couple standing near the wall (just to the left of center) were most likely Thomas Hancock (1703-1764) and his wife, Lydia Henchman Hancock (1714-1776), with their stately home and grounds as a backdrop. Thomas Hancock wears a long red (?) coat with substantial cuffs, a waistcoat, breeches with white hose, and what appears to be a tricorn hat. Lydia Hancock is dressed in the elite fashion of the time, sporting a light colored dress (probably silk) and stomacher.

Thomas Hancock was John Hancock’s uncle. Known as a very wealthy merchant (as well as a probable smuggler) and head of the “House of Hancock,” he opened his home and business to his orphaned nephew, John. Indeed, it would not be surprising if the lad on horseback, with a black liveried groom, depicted in Otis’s sampler was in fact the adolescent John. Born in 1737, he would have been around thirteen years of age. Like his aunt and uncle, young John wears appropriate, fashionable clothing. He is clad in riding gear, including high leather boots.

Detail, Thomas Hancock, 1730, by John Smibert
Museum of Fine Arts,  Boston

Lydia Henchman Hancock, by John Singleton Copley
National Portrait Gallery

For more, see The History Blog http://www.thehistoryblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/View-of-Boston-Common-Hannah-Otis.png

“The most expensive sampler ever sold is View of Boston Common by Hannah Otis (1732-1801), stitched around 1750. It’s a huge piece, meant for display over a chimney mantelpiece, embroidered in wool and silk on linen canvas. It was purchased by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston at Sotheby’s in 1996 for a record $1,157,500.

Hannah Otis is closely linked to the American Revolution and American history in general. She was born in 1732, the daughter of Colonel James Otis and Mary Allyne Otis. Her mother was a descendant of Mayflower passenger Edward Doty. Her father was a judge and representative to the Massachusetts legislature. He was a fervent anti-royalist as was his son, James Otis, Jr., who introduced the phrase “Taxation without representation is tyranny” during the Stamp Act debates. Hannah’s older sister Mercy Otis Warren was a poet, playwright and historian who published numerous pro-Revolution writings and corresponded with the luminaries of the American Revolution like John Hancock, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and John Adams.

The sampler remained in the Otis family until the 1996 sale. It had been on loan at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts for over 40 years when the family decided reluctantly that they had to sell it.”