Textiles and Dress
Galerie des Modes et Costumes Français
Galerie des Modes et Costumes Français is a series of fashion and costume plates that was distributed in Paris from 1778 to 1787, during the reign of King Louis XVI of France and Marie Antoinette. The first collected volume, which was produced in 1779, had a title page which bore an allegorical illustration as well as the full title of the collection: Gallerie des modes et des costumes français dessinés d'après nature, Gravés par le plus Célèbres Artistes en ce genre, et colorés avec le plus grand soin par Madame Le Beau. Ouvrage commence en l'année 1778. A Paris, chez le Srs Esnauts et Rapilly rue St. Jacques à la Ville de coutances. Avec priv. Du Roi (Gallery of French fashions and costumes, drawn from life, engraved by the most celebrated artists in this medium, and hand-colored with the greatest care by Madame Le Beau;publication begun in 1778. Paris, Messrs. Esnauts and Rapilly, rue Satin-Jacques, at the sign of the City of Countances. Licensed by the King). Importantly, this lengthier epithet indicates that the engravings of the Galerie (or Gallerie, according to eighteenth-century spelling) were created "d'après nature," or "after nature," meaning that they were intended to represent what was actually worn in the streets of Paris during the latter part of the eighteenth century. Although they vary in their presentation, the majority of images included in this series are tableaux vivants in which Parisians from various walks of life flaunt their quotidian fashions. These plates were completed by a group of prominent, eighteenth-century designers and engravers and are accompanied by descriptive text. Although no private or public collection possesses a complete edition of the Galerie, the series is widely recognized for its high aesthetic value as well as its innovation within the overarching field of the fashion plate. René Colas, who compiled the major reference work Bibliographie générale du costume et de la mode (1933), calls it "the most beautiful collection in existence on the fashions of the eighteenth century."
Also on this shelf
Dainese.
Aubusson tapestry.
See also
Uncatalogued shelfText from Wikipedia; plate via Wikimedia Commons. Text CC BY-SA 4.0; plate freely licensed (see Commons). Source record. Images and catalogue data are reproduced from open-access collections.