Flemish Gentleman in 1620, Hand Colored Jefferys Costume Plate, 1757

An original antique print, a copper engraving colored by hand, lettered "Habit of a Flemish Gentleman, in 1620." A young man stands squarely facing the viewer, one hand on his hip and the other at the hilt of his sword, its blade angled toward the viewer's left. He wears a broad black hat, a wide lace edged falling collar, and a green doublet and full breeches slashed to show pink, with a pink sash wound round his waist and long lace cuffs. Pink ribbon bows trim the breeches at the knee, white lace boot hose spill over the tops of soft brown boots, and pink rosettes decorate the boots at the ankle.

Two lines of lettering run below the figure. The English title, in a flowing script, reads "Habit of a Flemish Gentleman, in 1620." The French caption beneath it reads "Gentilhomme Flamand.", meaning "Flemish gentleman", and the number 147 is engraved at lower right. "Flemish" is engraved with the long s. The plate carries no engraver or designer credit.

The plate comes from the second volume of Thomas Jefferys' A Collection of the Dresses of Different Nations, Antient and Modern. Particularly Old English Dresses. After the Designs of Holbein, Vandyke, Hollar, and others, published in London in 1757 by Jefferys, Geographer to his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, in the Strand. The work carried a parallel French title, Recueil des Habillements de Différentes Nations, which explains the French caption on each plate. It falls among the figures from the Low Countries in the volume. The year in the English title is the date of the costume shown, not of the print, which was published in 1757.

It can be shown on its own or grouped with neighboring plates from the same nation.

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