Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1903-03-19

II.
Galnsborough painted are regarded as
the representatives of typical English
beauty. The duchess OF Devonshire.
Lady Spencer, Lady Tavistock. Mis-.
Arlington, Mrs. Linley, the grand
mother of the three beautiful SherI-
dams, Kitty Fisher, Mrs Siddons,
Mrs. Graham and the duchess oiI
Cumberland are women whom an
painter must have exulted in paint-
ing, for they possessed a beauty OF
feature and coloring which no criti-
cism can gainsay.
But thereafter, with the execution.
OF few dignified pictures by Law
renee, the beauty or the power of re-
producing it, seems to have disap-
peared. We hear of the beauties OF
the beginning of the last century and
OF the last century and of the early
Victorian era, but they fail to i'm
press US with any sense of the dignity
end beauty of their predecessors.
There is a mawkishness, a sentiment
fality, a bread-and-butter atmosphere
pervading ali the pictures that are II
existence, mad one energies with u
sigh OF relief into the renaissance %
today, where, if the beauty of women
falls somewhat short, there is certain
ly return to the picturesquesnes
and dignity of the past. A woman
must always be more difficult to paint
than man, for beauty is so depend
ent on expression, while color. charm
and many nameless attributes which
contribute to the perfection of the
ensemble, as well as the surroundings
of life and the fashions of the day.
cannot fail either to improve or de-
tract from the artists power of MAX
ing a beautiful picture.
There is no doubt about one i'm.
portant element in the question CT
the degree of beauty of any age OF
country, and that is the influence
that fashion must have either to in.
crease or diminish it's effect, and the
painters of beautiful women have had
a great ally in the picturesquenes
and variety OF the fashions in clothes
and in the couture. The flowing wigs
the days of Vandyke and Lely, the
magnificent lace, jewels and pearls,
at once added richness and splendor
to their canvas, while the powder, the
picturesque flowing robes and gor-
geouS toilets of the days of the
woman whom Gainsborough and Rey-
nolds painted made a picture in itself
quite impossible to render justice to.
Who could make duchess of Devon
shire anything but beautiful in her
picturesque hat, her lovely blue
gown and her soft draperies?
What the great masters owe to the
fashions of that day it is impossib.e
to exaggerate for though the beauty
of the women they painted was of
high standard it was enhanced by the
prevailing fashion of the time. and TO
1t we owe, in a great measure our
conception of the beauty of the
women of the 18th century. The
women of our day have not deteriorat.
ed or lost the charm of their grand
mothers or even earlier generations.
but there is not the same beauty in
the early Victorian era, and it is, we
believe, because the fashion was ugly.
grotesque and unbecoming to the
highest degree. The long waists.
the crinolines, the poke ebonnets and
bef1ounced skirts would have ruined
the beauty of Venue, while the ring
let's, the bandeauX and chignons utter
ly destroyed the beauty and shape Oh
every head and the hair which
! covered it. The old saying, Beauty
unadorned," is surely out of date,
for though that which is so superIa.
! tive as to defy criticism is independ.
ent of any of the adventitious ad-
juncts of dress, there is an average
of good looks which is not in so I'M
assailable a position, and tn beauty
| of a period is enhanced or Spoiled by
the fashion of the day, of which the
women of the early Victorian era are
| an example.
AS the Victorian fashions became
| modified by the influence of French
taste, the peculiarities and idiosyncra =
sizes of so years ago disappeared, and
! dress has become more picturesque
and much more a matter of individ-
ual taste. There is not the same
slavish adherence to the prevailing
fashion, and while the style and idea
are followed, there are many means OF
adapting it to each wearer. The bro
cade, laces and soft muslins OF the
days of Reynolds and Gainsborough
have regained their sway, and the
cheapness of material and all the &C
cessories of dress allow any woman iC
make the most OF the beauty the gods
may have given her. 1t is not that the
beauty of the English race has i'm
proved so much as that the process of
setting it in a becoming frame has
made so many more lovely pictures
TIE dress of women in the middle ami
lower classes fifty years ago was
cheap, ugly and unbecoming. Today
the numbers of smart, pretty women
that are to be seen everywhere be
long to no particular class or st. The
domestic servant yhen out in her Sun
day best, is quite as well dressed and