Merveilleuse: Chapeau à l’Anglaise, Spencer à l’Anglaise
Medium
Hand colored engraving
Dimensions
Sheet: 16 3/16 × 10 11/16 in. (41.1 × 27.1 cm) Plate: 14 9/16 × 9 1/2 in. (37 × 24.1 cm) Album: 16 3/4 × 11 5/8 × 11/16 in. (42.5 × 29.5 × 1.7 cm)
Classification
Books|Prints|Ornament & Architecture
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1924
Accession Number
24.18(21)
Tags
Art Historical Context
In 1814, amid the Bourbon Restoration following Napoleon's abdication, French fashion enthusiasts embraced this hand-colored engraving titled *Merveilleuse: Chapeau à l’Anglaise, Spencer à l’Anglaise*. Created by painter Horace Vernet and engraver Georges Jacques Gatine it exemplifies the vibrant fashion plates that popularized high-style trends among Europe's elite women. The "Merveilleuse"—a nod to the glamorous, neoclassical beauties of the late 1790s Directory period—here sports an "English hat" (a wide-brimmed chapeau à l’anglaise) and a tailored spencer jacket, reflecting Anglo-inspired ...