Three English Ladies of 1735, 1745 and 1755, Jefferys Costume Print, 1757

This is an original antique copper engraving from 1757, colored by hand, lettered "Habits of English Ladys, in the Years 1735(a) 1745(b) 1755(c)." Three ladies meet in conversation, each marked with a small letter below her skirt. At the viewer's left, b (1745) turns in a pale blue gown spread over a wide hoop, a white hood on her head and a closed fan in her hand. In the center, c (1755) wears a gold gown open over tiers of white flounces, long gloves and a fan raised to her chin. At the right, a (1735) is seen from behind in a white cap, a black cape and a full red skirt over a wide hoop.

The English title is engraved in script below the image: "Habits of English Ladys, in the Years 1735(a) 1745(b) 1755(c)." Beneath it, in smaller italic letters, is the French caption "Habillements des Dames Angloises, en 1735 &c.", meaning "dresses of English ladies in 1735, and so on". The plate number 228 is engraved at lower right. The English title keeps the old spelling "Ladys". No engraver or artist is named on the plate.

The plate comes from the second volume of Thomas Jefferys' A Collection of the Dresses of Different Nations, Antient and Modern, published in London in 1757 by Jefferys, Geographer to his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, in the Strand. The work has a parallel French title page, Recueil des Habillements de Différentes Nations, which is why each plate is captioned in both languages. The English title page states that the old English dresses were taken after the designs of Holbein, Vandyke, Hollar and others, so the date in the caption belongs to the costume and not to the print. The companion to the plate of English gentlemen of the same years, this sheet traces the changing shape of the hooped petticoat and the gown over two decades of Georgian fashion.

The three colored gowns make a lively group, and the plate hangs well with its companion of English gentlemen.

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