Fashion of the French Revolution, Set of Three Antique Prints, circa 1882

This is a set of three original antique hand-colored wood engravings, sold together as one lot, from Augustin Challamel's La France et les Francais a travers les siecles, Paris, circa 1882. The sheets are, in order: Fashions of 1792; One Must Suffer to be Beautiful; Fashion of 1792. Fashions of 1792, a woman in a high waisted striped gown with a deep kerchief and a wide hat, drawn by P. Sellier after the cabinet de Harlem and engraved by Tauxier. A woman being laced into her stays by a maid while she grips the bedpost, lettered with the proverb that one must suffer to be beautiful, taken from the Album du bon ton. A woman in the fashion of 1792, a high waisted gown with a deep fichu, a wide sash and a tall crowned hat trimmed with ribbon, drawn by P. Sellier after the cabinet de Harlem.

The plate belongs to La France et les Francais a travers les siecles by Augustin Challamel, published in Paris by F. Roy at 185 rue Saint-Antoine about 1882. It comes from the suite headed Costumes civils et militaires des Francais a travers les siecles, which runs through the work and illustrates French civil and military dress from Gaul to the nineteenth century. Much of the original drawing was done by Edmond Lechevalier-Chevignard, working from manuscripts, tapestries and paintings named on the sheets themselves. The plates of this suite are headed Costumes civils et militaires des Francais a travers les siecles across the top of the sheet, numbered at the lower left and signed F. Roy, editeur at the lower right, with the engraver's name cut small into the lower margin of the block on many of them. The ground is left plain so that the figures carry the whole weight of the design.

Seventeen ninety two is the year the monarchy fell, and dress of that exact moment, caught between the ancien regime and the Directoire, is the most historically charged costume in the whole French sequence. Dressing room subjects are the liveliest sheets in any costume series and this one carries its own caption as a joke, which makes it a genuine period satire rather than a plain record of clothing. They are three original sheets sold together, and the set is never split. Hung together in matching frames the sheets read as one piece of wall rather than as separate prints, and the uniform plate size makes an even line above a sideboard, a bed or a run of stairs.

Light uneven toning, browner toward the edges. Marked handling soiling along the edges of all three sheets. Light foxing in the margins of two of the three sheets. Slight wear at the corners of all three sheets.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.