Habit d'Hyver

Print
1678 (published)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This is one of four costume plates (two male and two female) that appeared in the January 1678 Extraordinaire of the French monthly journal Mercure Galant. They were accompanied by descriptive text. The plates, as the descriptive text suggested, informed tailors and merchants as well as readers in up-to-date fashions of the court. The prints were made by printmaker Jean Le Pautre (1618-1682), based on designs by Jean Bérain (1637-1711). Bérain was pre-eminent designer draughtsmen of the seventeenth century who was designer to Louis XIV from 1674 and whose work defined the Louis XIV style.

Mercure Galant was a periodical founded by Jean Donneau de Visé (1638-1710) and appeared monthly from 1677. It was accompanied three times a year between 1678 and 1692 by a supplement entitled Exttraordinaire, which described events and new fashions. Part of the success of the journal lay in its method of presentation, which was in the form od a letter addresses to a fictional correspondent who represented the largely femaile reading public. This provided an intimate forum in which new fashions could be discussed. The Mercure Galant was the first periodical to treat fashion as a subject worthy of discussion.

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Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleHabit d'Hyver (manufacturer's title)
Materials and techniques
Etching and engraving
Brief description
Etching and engraving. Costume plate by Jean Lepautre after Jean Bérain. Habit d'Hyver, appearing in January 1678 Extraordinaire of the Mercure Galant; French.
Physical description
Costume plate of man with long hair wearing hat decorated with a ribbon, doublet with fringed cuffs, pantaloons, shoes, patterned cravat and sash, and sword, and is holding a cane.
Dimensions
  • Height: 13cm (Note: trimmed to)
  • Width: 10.1cm (Note: trimmed to)
Production typeLimited edition
Marks and inscriptions
  • Habit d'Hyver (Top left corner)
  • Ruban large brodé / de Soye / Castor ras noir / Iuste-au-corps de drap / de Holande couleur / de noisette. / Baudrier brodé / couleur de la pluche / double reneurs- / de manches sans- / veste / frange forte couleur / de Prince / pluche de couleur / Bas rouléz cou- / leur de l'habit / l'Ecgarpe de point / d'espagne ou de rai- / seau Or et Argent (right side)
Credit line
Given by Antony Griffiths and Judy Rudoe
Object history
Gift of Antony Griffiths and Judy Rudoe
Subjects depicted
Summary
This is one of four costume plates (two male and two female) that appeared in the January 1678 Extraordinaire of the French monthly journal Mercure Galant. They were accompanied by descriptive text. The plates, as the descriptive text suggested, informed tailors and merchants as well as readers in up-to-date fashions of the court. The prints were made by printmaker Jean Le Pautre (1618-1682), based on designs by Jean Bérain (1637-1711). Bérain was pre-eminent designer draughtsmen of the seventeenth century who was designer to Louis XIV from 1674 and whose work defined the Louis XIV style.

Mercure Galant was a periodical founded by Jean Donneau de Visé (1638-1710) and appeared monthly from 1677. It was accompanied three times a year between 1678 and 1692 by a supplement entitled Exttraordinaire, which described events and new fashions. Part of the success of the journal lay in its method of presentation, which was in the form od a letter addresses to a fictional correspondent who represented the largely femaile reading public. This provided an intimate forum in which new fashions could be discussed. The Mercure Galant was the first periodical to treat fashion as a subject worthy of discussion.
Bibliographic reference
Thépaut-Cabasset, Corinne. L'Esprit de modes au Grand Siècle. Paris: CTHS, 2010.
Collection
Accession number
E.266-2014

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Record createdMarch 5, 2014
Record URL
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