Pair of Gloves
1800-1820 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This fashionable and highly decorative glove of rich cream kid reflects the trend for neo-classicism which epitomized dress in the early part of the nineteenth century. Printed gloves of this style were fashionable in England and throughout Europe but are said to have originated in Spain. This fine example is of Spanish origin, as can be seen by the caption underneath the image: 'Venus y las tres Gracias'. The image depicts Venus and the three Graces (Thalia, Aglaia and Euphrosine) together with Cupid. The story is taken from Greek mythology and the legend of the love affair between Mars, the god of war, and Venus, the goddess of love. It corresponds to the idea that beauty and love will disarm and triumph over force.
The glove illustrated is a homage to and symbolic of love. Throughout the seventeenth, eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries it was the custom to give gloves on many social occasions. Etiquette decreed that gloves were one of the few gifts which a gentleman could with propriety present to a lady who was not his wife.
The pattern of the glove is cut with 'quirks' and 'fourchettes', but there are no 'points' as the backs were left plain in order to accommodate the printed and hand-coloured design. An elegant border depicting myrtle, the symbol of love and also an attibute of Venus, runs around the wrist. A threaded, madder-dyed pink ribbon completes the applied decoration. The cuff is scalloped and pinked to give added refinement and delicacy to the design of the glove.
The glove illustrated is a homage to and symbolic of love. Throughout the seventeenth, eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries it was the custom to give gloves on many social occasions. Etiquette decreed that gloves were one of the few gifts which a gentleman could with propriety present to a lady who was not his wife.
The pattern of the glove is cut with 'quirks' and 'fourchettes', but there are no 'points' as the backs were left plain in order to accommodate the printed and hand-coloured design. An elegant border depicting myrtle, the symbol of love and also an attibute of Venus, runs around the wrist. A threaded, madder-dyed pink ribbon completes the applied decoration. The cuff is scalloped and pinked to give added refinement and delicacy to the design of the glove.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Parts | This object consists of 2 parts.
|
| Materials and techniques | Kid leather, printed in black, hand coloured |
| Brief description | Pair of women's kid leather gloves, 1800-1820, Spanish, printed with 'Venus y Las Tres Gracias' |
| Physical description | Woman's gloves of cream kid with a neo-classical mythological design printed in black and hand-coloured. |
| Credit line | Given by Messrs Harrods Ltd. |
| Object history | These were part of a very large collection of items of dress and accessories which was given to the Museum by Harrods, the department store, in 1913. The collection had been formed by the artist Talbot Hughes, who wrote a book on the history of dress, illustrated with photographs of models wearing items from his collection. A large firm in America had offered to buy the collection and present it to the Metropolitan Museum, New York, but Hughes did not want it to go abroad. At the suggestion of Cecil Harcourt Smith of the V&A, Harrods bought it for £2,500 and gave it to the Museum for the 'public good'. Harrods displayed the collection for three weeks in December 1913. |
| Association | |
| Summary | This fashionable and highly decorative glove of rich cream kid reflects the trend for neo-classicism which epitomized dress in the early part of the nineteenth century. Printed gloves of this style were fashionable in England and throughout Europe but are said to have originated in Spain. This fine example is of Spanish origin, as can be seen by the caption underneath the image: 'Venus y las tres Gracias'. The image depicts Venus and the three Graces (Thalia, Aglaia and Euphrosine) together with Cupid. The story is taken from Greek mythology and the legend of the love affair between Mars, the god of war, and Venus, the goddess of love. It corresponds to the idea that beauty and love will disarm and triumph over force. The glove illustrated is a homage to and symbolic of love. Throughout the seventeenth, eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries it was the custom to give gloves on many social occasions. Etiquette decreed that gloves were one of the few gifts which a gentleman could with propriety present to a lady who was not his wife. The pattern of the glove is cut with 'quirks' and 'fourchettes', but there are no 'points' as the backs were left plain in order to accommodate the printed and hand-coloured design. An elegant border depicting myrtle, the symbol of love and also an attibute of Venus, runs around the wrist. A threaded, madder-dyed pink ribbon completes the applied decoration. The cuff is scalloped and pinked to give added refinement and delicacy to the design of the glove. |
| Bibliographic reference | Mercedes Pasalodos Salgado, 'Printed gloves, elegant hands', Datatèxtil 20, 2009, p. 38. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | T.639-1913 |
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| Record created | December 29, 2005 |
| Record URL |
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