La Belle Assemblée, November 1808.
“Morning Walking Dresses”
The description accompanying this print always makes me think I am reading the wrong description, as the colors described do not match the colors depicted. The mantle on the left is supposed to be “grass-green” or “royal purple,” yet it is pink. The coat on the right is supposed to be “bright morone” (a poppy red) or “crimson,” yet it is a sort of lavender-blue.
Every copy of this print I have seen uses the same colors as this one. It makes one wonder if the colorists were given the wrong directions!
The print is described in the magazine as follows:
“No. 1–WALKING DRESS. A round cambric gown, with fan ruff’ a Polish coat with Carmelite mantle, or bright grass-green, or royal purple velvet, trimmed entirely round with ermine, and clasped up the side of the figure with steel or silver. A Shepherdess’s hat of green velvet, or moss straw, with variegated green feather, and Chinese tassel. Shoes of black Spanish silk, or pale amber velvet; and gloves or York tan.
“No. 2–WALKING DRESS. A round robe of shawl muslin in white or colours. A plain French coat of Merino cloth, or shot sarsnet; the color bright morone, or crimson shot, trimmed entirely round with chenille fur. A three-quartered opera tippet of the same. A Village bonnet pf sarsnet, or satin, formed in French flutings in front, ornamented with a full bow of appropriate ribband in the cente, and tied under the chin with the same. Shoes of grass-green, or morone velvet; and gloves of grey Limerick.”
