Figure 23. — Gentleman in winter attiie sup- 

 posedly just returned from the army. He 

 ordered his gray cloth suit froin Sieur Gaul- 

 tier, whose shop, "A la Couronne," was 

 located in the Rue des Bourdonnais. From 

 the Mercure Galant, October 1678. (Au- 

 thor's collection.) 



}falntcL\7{vV!'r 



Figure 24. — L.\dv in winter dress of brown 

 Florentine satin. Her petticoat is of off- 

 white {fun hlanc un f>eu sale) satin brocaded 

 with blue, violet, red, and brown designs. 

 From the Mercure Galant, October 1678. 

 (Author's collection.) 



other sources: first, by the annual almanacs, which 

 were often embellished by a large engraving of some 

 important political event, and secondly, by the print 

 shops in the Rue St. Jaccjues and elsewhere, whicii 

 commissioned not only Lepautre, who had worked 

 for the Mercure Galant, but the Bonnarts, Jean de 

 St. Jean, Arnoult, and other competent artists to 

 produce large engravings of contemporary person- 

 alities. These for the most part depicted members 

 of the French royal family and court circle, actors 

 and actresses, and other well-known characters, not 

 always named on the print. A '"Man of Quality" 

 (fig. 25) is almost certainly a portrait, which, when 

 suitably colored as many of the prints were, could 



be pinned up or framed for decorative efTect. It is 

 wrong to take such a print, as sonte wTiters on costume 

 have done, for a fashion plate recording what w-as 

 worn or likely to be \\-orn in the year in which it was 

 engra\ed. 



The decorative character of tiiese distinguished 

 prints was often enhanced by "dressing" or overlaying 

 them with small pieces of fabric, lace, or paper.'' 

 The finest series of such prints is that in the Pierpont 

 Morgan Library, New York City. In figure 26, the 

 outlines of the engraving were carefully cut with a 



3i Sec F. G. Roe, 

 vol. 89, p. 302. 



'Prints and Tinsel," Connoisseur (1932), 



PAPER 60 : ORIGIN AND E.\RLY HISTORY OF THE FASHION PI..\TE 



83 



