Furnishing Fabric
circa 1802 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This furnishing fabric shows scenes from Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre's romantic novel, Paul et Virginie, published in Paris in 1788. The novel shows the influence of contemporary philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau's concept of 'The Noble Savage', which encouraged a return to nature, where humans would not be exposed to the corrupting influences of modern society.
Paul and Virginie are two children raised in relative seclusion on the island of Mauritius. Free from the constraints and troubles of their European contemporaries, the children grow to be happy and fulfilled until Virginie returns to France to secure the fortune of an ailing relative, leaving Paul desolate. On her return to the island, the ship carrying Virginie is wrecked on the coast during a hurricane. As the ship sinks, one of the sailors urges Virginie to dive into the sea and let him swim her to shore. However, Virginie's modesty precludes her from undressing in front of the sailor and so she chooses to drown instead.
Popular works of fiction like Bernardin de Saint Pierre's often inspired designs for the cottongs printed at Jouy, many commissioned from painters. The romantic sensibility of the late eighteenth century, as encapsulated in Paul et Virginie, with its doomed lovers and tragic ending, would have appealed to both designer and consumer.
Paul and Virginie are two children raised in relative seclusion on the island of Mauritius. Free from the constraints and troubles of their European contemporaries, the children grow to be happy and fulfilled until Virginie returns to France to secure the fortune of an ailing relative, leaving Paul desolate. On her return to the island, the ship carrying Virginie is wrecked on the coast during a hurricane. As the ship sinks, one of the sailors urges Virginie to dive into the sea and let him swim her to shore. However, Virginie's modesty precludes her from undressing in front of the sailor and so she chooses to drown instead.
Popular works of fiction like Bernardin de Saint Pierre's often inspired designs for the cottongs printed at Jouy, many commissioned from painters. The romantic sensibility of the late eighteenth century, as encapsulated in Paul et Virginie, with its doomed lovers and tragic ending, would have appealed to both designer and consumer.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Plate-printed plain weave cotton |
| Brief description | Length of furnishing fabric of plate-printed plain weave cotton, designed by Jean-Baptiste Huet, made by Manufacture Royale de Oberkampf, Jouy-en-Josas, France, about 1802 |
| Physical description | Length of furnishing fabric of plate-printed cotton in red on a white ground. The pattern depicts four scenes from Bernardin de Saint Pierre's romantic novel Paul et Virginie (first published in 1788. The scenes consists of the mothers with two children and dogs sitting amid tropical vegetation, a story-teller seeing children sheltering from the rain beneath Virginia's skirts. Virginia moves with outstretched hand towards two men in a boat waiting to carry her out to the ship while Paul kneels clinging to her waist. In the smallest scene, Paul kneels beside the body of the drowned Virginia against a background of rocks and the wrecked ship. The pieces of the cotton are patched together to make a complete width with the fragments of the selvedge on each side. There is one and a half pattern repeats in the length, but no full repeat in the width. |
| Dimensions |
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| Styles | |
| Credit line | Given by H. Hodgkin, Esq. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Place depicted | |
| Literary reference | Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, Jacques-Henri, <i>Paul et Virginie</i>, Paris, 1788. |
| Summary | This furnishing fabric shows scenes from Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre's romantic novel, Paul et Virginie, published in Paris in 1788. The novel shows the influence of contemporary philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau's concept of 'The Noble Savage', which encouraged a return to nature, where humans would not be exposed to the corrupting influences of modern society. Paul and Virginie are two children raised in relative seclusion on the island of Mauritius. Free from the constraints and troubles of their European contemporaries, the children grow to be happy and fulfilled until Virginie returns to France to secure the fortune of an ailing relative, leaving Paul desolate. On her return to the island, the ship carrying Virginie is wrecked on the coast during a hurricane. As the ship sinks, one of the sailors urges Virginie to dive into the sea and let him swim her to shore. However, Virginie's modesty precludes her from undressing in front of the sailor and so she chooses to drown instead. Popular works of fiction like Bernardin de Saint Pierre's often inspired designs for the cottongs printed at Jouy, many commissioned from painters. The romantic sensibility of the late eighteenth century, as encapsulated in Paul et Virginie, with its doomed lovers and tragic ending, would have appealed to both designer and consumer. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | T.27-1967 |
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| Record created | December 7, 2006 |
| Record URL |
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