Yay or Nay? Thaddeus Burr

For a while last week, we were split right down the centre on Queen Juliana Marie's white ruffly gown. But as I said, ruffles are in this fall so the look was met with a final outcome of 'Yay.' This week let's drop the frill and add some colour!


Rugged Colonist meets urban chic when John Singleton Copley paints Thaddeus Burr (c. 1760) in brown and cerulean. Yay or Nay?

[Saint Louis Art Museum]

Chapeau a la Caravan

Mythosidhe just posted this fabulous portrait and I had to pass on her discovery, Mrs. Daniel Dennison Rogers by John Singleton Copley circa 1784 contains the same English principals of portrait painting but brings an American electricity in the colours and background. Copley brings the drama to this piece that so many English portraitists failed to bring; can't you just hear the Gone with the Wind theme playing behind her? But what got me all excited about Mythosidhe's find is the hat Mrs. Rogers is wearing. Lauren will correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe it is the chapeau a la caravan, which she actually made when we went to the racetrack this summer. I had never seen one in a portrait, so what a pleasant surprise to see it in an American portrait.