#historical artwork

[kriemhilde-in-the-castle]

ᴛʜᴇ sᴛᴀɢᴇs ᴏғ ʟɪғᴇ - ʙʏ ᴄᴀsᴘᴀʀ ᴅᴀᴠɪᴅ ғʀɪᴇᴅʀɪᴄʜ

[attension-seeker]

Victorian Secrets: A Shop Well Stocked

[yr-obedt-cicero]

Ellen Sharples's miniature of Hamilton

I found an interesting - yet questionable - miniature of Alexander Hamilton. According to The Walter Art Museum, it was painted by Ellen Sharples, the wife of James Sharples, in 1796. Although the miniature lacks any date or signature.

Ellen Wallace Sharples was an English painter who specialized in pastel portraiture and watercolor miniatures on ivory. She met artist James Sharples in Bath when she became his student. They married in 1787, and she became his third wife. The couple emigrated with their children to the US around 1794, where they would follow in the footsteps of English artists who capitalized on the burgeoning demand for portraiture in the New World. Ellen began drawing portraits professionally around 1797, while they were residing in Philadelphia, to supplement the financial well-being of the family. Ellen's career flourished as a result of her husband's original portraits being copied on request, and her miniature reproductions were sold for the same as her husband's. Miniature portraits, such as the Sharples', were affordable and interesting, and made good gifts to significant others—alternative to Gilbert Stuart's and John Trumbull's larger scale and more formal portraits.

Evidently Ellen's artstyle is almost completely identical to her husband's, as you can see when you compare Ellen's to Sharples's version of Hamilton that was also painted in 1796. Which makes me think Ellen's above was one of the copies she made, considering the similarities and same date. Ellen also made portraits of other notable figures like Washington, Theodosia Burr Alston, and even Elizabeth Hamilton (Also in 1796).

What caught my interest the most though was the braided hair in the back. The contrasting colors indicate that they belonged to separate people, an auburn brown with ginger highlights, and a dark brown. It is my best guess that these were Hamilton's and Eliza's hairs, as they seem to match roughly with them. Eliza kept many clippings of Hamilton's hair, as it was tradition for the time. To quote Susan Holloway Scott; “But hair from from a famous head became more than a mourning memento. It was history, a surviving reminder of a notable man or woman. Famous hair was collected and treasured as a tangible reminder of a more glorious past.” [x] Besides her sons inheriting the treasured strands of hair, she also had a mourning ring with Hamilton's hair locked inside. [x]

And the hairs on Ellen's miniature seem to decently match Hamilton's surviving ones;

Image source.

[breathingwithnoheir]

Hi my fashion history friends,

I recently bought this portrait of what looks to be a Victorian bride and groom from a second hand store. I can't say whether or not the artwork is authentic or a reproduction, but I would love to know if anyone has any idea when it could be set? My best guess is 1870-1890, but really I have no idea. Victorian fashion is not my area of expertise no matter how much Bernadette Banner I watch, haha.

More detailed photos and photos of the back of the portrait below the cut if that helps anyone date it.

[laviane]

romantic night landscape by james arthur o'connor (1792-1841)

[thejackmeister-mongolhistory]

In the long history of Chinese civilization, there have been numerous emperors, kings, lords and rulers with a penchant for cruelty. However, few have earned the same place in Chinese history as the very first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huangdi, a man whose name was so synonymous with cruel governance that Chinese dynasties activity avoided being associated with him for over two thousand years after his death. It was the King of Qin who united (and by united, I mean conquered) the various kingdoms in northern China at the end of the Warring States Period (475-221 BCE), founding the Qin Dynasty and proclaiming himself the first emperor of China in 221 BCE (Qin Shi Huangdi means first emperor of Qin: huangdi was a new term invented just for him, designating his connection to heaven). While the new emperor lived only a few years, dying in 210 BCE, he left a major mark on the Chinese consciousness: his rule was enforced through armed might and brutality, allegedly burying scholars alive and burning thousands of books (there is modern debate over the extent to which this is true though). Around 215 BCE, Shi Huangdi began united the fragmented border walls of the previous Chinese kingdoms and expanding them into a long wall: the original 'Great Wall of China.' This wall began a massive graveyard, famous for poor working conditions and starvation. The depredations associated with this wall were so infamous that it would not be until the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) that the border walls even began to be called by the same term used during the Qin Dynasty, such were the connotations. His death also became legendary. The first emperor sought in vain for a source of immortality, ingesting copious amounts of mercury. Mercury of course, does not improve your mental state in any beneficial way, and also does quite the opposite of immortalizing you. Shi Huangdi had been preparing for his death for years, however, in the form of his monumental mausoleum, containing a massive tomb supposedly with rivers of mercury and the heavens recreated in jewels in the ceiling, as well as traps and automatic crossbows. In addition, the famous Terracotta Army was built to guard and serve him in the next world. Unfortunately for the state of Qin, a spoiled and inept heir and a scheming eunuch meant that the Qin state only survived another four years after Shi Huangdi's death. The succeeding dynasty, the Han (206 BCE-220 CE), one of the greatest in Chinese history, did their best to slander the Qin and make the first emperor appear as nothing but the greatest of tyrants, which directly painted the image he would have for posterity. Only recently have their been efforts to revisit the Qin which have demonstrated some of the hyperbole of the Han accounts like that of Sima Qian, but in general most scholars have had little good to say about Qin Shi Huangdi himself. Even if not as terrible as his successor dynasty depicted him, it is difficult to fully rehabilitate this man. As an aside, the walls constructed under Qin Shi Huangdi eroded in a few decades: the extant Great Wall as we know it was built under the Ming Dynasty over 1600 years after Shi Huangdi's death. To learn more about these walls, and the role they played in the Mongol invasion in the thirteenth century, check out my video on the topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCizKdmsYN0

[kriemhilde-in-the-castle]

ᴛʜᴇ sᴡɪɴɢ - ʙʏ ᴊᴏᴇᴀɴ ʜᴏɴᴏʀᴇ́ ғʀᴀɢᴏɴᴀʀᴅ

[yr-obedt-cicero]

Was it true that John Andre liked art? If it is, I guess Hammy's type is "hot artists named John"

Yes, he did! I'm nowhere near knowledgeable in regards to Andre, but he was a talented artist.

Major John Andre, self portrait, 1780

Sketch of a Meschianza Costume, John Andre, 1778

Drawing of countryside, by Major John Andre of the British Army, when a prisoner, & living in my Fathers family in Lancaster, during the War of the Revolution

Maybe he did, honestly.