Shirt

Art Historical Context

This charming cotton shirt from mid-19th-century America1850–69) offers a glimpse into the leisure pursuits of the era, featuring vivid printed motifs of men on horseback hunting with dogs. Likely worn by a gentleman sportsman, it captures the romanticized ideal of outdoor adventure popular among the American elite during a time of expanding frontiers and romanticized rural life. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute, it was generously donated in 1958 by the Homemaker Service of the Children's Aid Society. Crafted from cotton—a staple American fabric bolstered by the era'...