A painter and engraver to the king, Bonnart also collaborated with two of his brothers to produce fashion plates depicting the latest court styles and activities. These prints circulated throughout Europe, cementing the French court’s reputation as the height of fashion. Portrayed in an elegant day dress decorated with floral motifs, a young woman sits at her toilette while a maid fixes her fontage, or “headdress,” and a page washes her hands.
Four lines of verse in two columns below caption title: Je suis de qualité, bien-faite, jeune et belle / Si mon ajustemente pou voit plaire aux humains / Et si leur passion devenoit criminelle / Pour moy. Je mén lave les mains.
Although most of the dressed prints in the library's collection were made between 1690 and 1710, the later date of the fabrics indicates that they were "dressed" some forty or fifty years later. The correct French term for the process is découpé. Its translation, literally "cut-out", gives some idea of what was involved. Portions of the print were cut out and faced from the reverse side with fabric corresponding to parts of the costume. What remained of the print was skillfully tinted with watercolor.
A painter and engraver to the king, Bonnart also collaborated with two of his brothers to produce fashion plates depicting the latest court styles and activities. These prints circulated throughout Europe, cementing the French court's reputation as the height of fashion. Portrayed in an elegant day dress decorated with floral motifs, a young woman sits at her toilette while a maid fixes her fontage, or "headdress," and a page washes her hands. -- Exhibition Label, From "Poussin, Claude, and French Drawing in the Classical Age"
Group portrait of a woman at her toilet, with a maid adjusting the bow of her bonnet, a servant bringing her cloak and muff, and a page holding up a basin of water in which she washes her hands. She is wearing a morning coat of silk damask over a brocade gown.