I’ve wanted to make a repro of this gown since seeing the painting of Lady Frances Courtenay by Thomas Hudson at the Huntington in 2011. I love seeing how one era interprets another era, and this style is so romantic and pretty! Apparently, this was a whole genre of painting, a trend for upper-class women in the 18th century to be pained in 17th-century style. They were specifically referencing Rubens’ paintings of his wife.<\/p>\n
Hudson painted a lot of this same portrait for different women, plus there were versions with the gown in other colors. And in general, painters of the 18th century had this idea, and the big name painter would do the sitting with the lady and paint her face, hands, and general aspect. Then the work would be sent to a “drapery painter” like Joseph Van Aken<\/a> who filled in the clothing and background. I suspect the women never wore these costumes, and the outfits were made up by the drapery painters, either by interpreting Rubens and other 17th-century works or perhaps by looking at example garments. But given how so many of these have almost identical clothing (there’s a lot more than what I show here!), I think the painter just figured it out once and copied it.<\/p>\n\n\t\t