Yay or Nay? Mrs James Peale

Last week Mrs Gage was up for judgement and our panel spied (heh heh heh) a big Yay. A la Turque gowns must have been quite the show-stoppers at American events, so I can't blame Mrs. Gage for opting to being painted in the style.  This week's selection is no longer in the Turkish style but we have another American fashionista to judge.

James Peale paints his family (1795) and shows off his wife in her simple grey and white robe a l'anglais which she has accessorized with her yellow shawl.  Yay or Nay?

[Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts]

Trouble with Travel: Hats

While scouring for pictures of the royal wedding in Edinburgh today I cam across this gem, which I found rather adorable.

 Get in the back, Kate! 

Then I looked at it again and realized poor Katie Cambridge is hunched over due to her rather large hat (been there, Honey)! 

That instantly brought to mind a satirical print from Matthew Darly in 1776 when hair heights were at their largest.  Elegant females were constantly forced to sit on the floor due to their hair; there was no other way to get around it aside from sticking your head out the window.  Here's hoping that someday we will have vehicles to accommodate fashion!

Books For Sale

Ladies and Gents,

There are catladies and bookladies.  Both collect something until their house is overrun with it, and the only solution is to send those things out to better, more loving homes.  I am a booklady.  My shelf is overrun and I sadly have to give up some books in anticipation of a move to come later in the year.  But I hate the thought of trading them in to my local Book Barn without giving you readers a look through them first.  That way, I would know they'd be going to a good home!

Most of these books are barely broken into (by me at least) and some I received as gifts or promotional items (for those I only charge shipping).  The prices listed include shipping within the US; for overseas orders I will have to tack on a couple extra dollars.  If you are interested in any of the books (or have questions about them) please email me at GeorgianaGossip@gmail.com and make sure you have a valid paypal account.

Up for grabs (in a wonky layout)

$6

Audiobook, $7

$3

$3

$4

$3, Please note, different cover

Also,
English Painting by R. H. Wilenski (a very old, fat book) $7

Bess: More of a Hervey than a Foster

It was two hundred and twenty years ago that Fanny Burney met Georgiana and her family for the first time, despite the two women being in the celebrity spotlight for over a decade. 

The truth of the matter is that Fanny had no interest in Georgiana and her group.  To her, it would be like the modern equivalent of having the opportunity to meet a tabloid celebrity who was famous for no good reason (ie: Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian), Fanny was disgusted and just not interested.  However, no one was as surprised as herself when, with little effort, Georgiana won Fanny over, "it is impossible to view...this celebrated woman without feeling the strongest disposition to admire and like her."  Fanny found that Georgiana's sister, Harriet, whom her pre-conceived notions were even harsher on, was surprisingly equally likable.  However, she found Lady Spencer to be a bore, the Devonshire nanny (Selina Trimmer) to be full of herself, and Bess and the Duke's daughter, Caroline to be a brat.  As for Bess herself, Fanny reserved her harshest criticisms.  "To the tales told about her, scandal is nothing - INFAMY enwraps them."  Fanny found herself smothered by the sycophantic Bess, whose efforts made it almost impossible to socialize with anyone else. 

In the end Fanny decided that after talking to Bess, "Lady Elizabeth has the general character of inheriting all the wit, all the subtlety, all les agréments [charms], and all the wickedness of the Herveys.  While I can't imagine Bess would be too pleased with this assessment, I have a feeling her relative John Hervey, would have found it quite flattering.