Madame Sans Culotte
Lesueur/Le Sueur Brothers
French, 1789
(Stipple engraving?)
Musée de la Révolution Française, Vizille , France, 88.179
I have no French blood in me but I have spent most of my life studying the late18th-early 19th century so July 14th always puts me in mind of literature’s most famous knitter, Madame Defarge (A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, Weekly serial in All the Year Round, 30 April 1859, to 26 November 1859). The knitting on the needles in this image is a Bonet Rouge. I have seen versions of this image with more vivid colour at (http://www.bridgemanart.com/image/French-School-18th-century/Madame-Sans-Culotte-c-1789-colour-litho/f8e7f97fc3f746abaa037908e76ff4e1?key=knitting&filter=CBPOIHV&thumb=x150&num=15&page=207) and a larger, sharper image at http://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/ucl-views/0801/madame
For an interesting analysis of this print, see
http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/imaging/essays/hickman2.html
2 comments:
Interesting print. The red cap is still a part of the Danish male folklore suit.
Thanks for sharing that fact with us!
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