Pierre Collection (#13)

Cavalcade at Longchamp racetrack
Cavalcade de Longchamp. Two incroyables (fops) mounted on heavy dray horses instead of thoroughbreds at Longchamp racetrack

Shop girls dressing in the morning. Four shop girls dressing, fixing their hair in front of mirror, adjusting their stockings, playing with a cat. These little workers show such ingenious coquetry

Millinery shop workers. Women in lowcut muslin dresses trying on hats, holding a hat box, fixing feathers to a headdress and reading a notebook at the counter

Fabric shop workers. Women in muslin dresses, bonnets and shawls embroidering, sewing, cutting cloth and wrapping bolts of fabric

Three graces of the Ballet of **. Elegant ballet dancers in costume (one in turban and shawl, one with tambourine and dress decorated with flowers)

Two May-September couples dancing at a ball
Two May-September couples at a ball. The old and ugly partners have arranged the company of two young, good-looking escorts, who flirt with each other

Coryphees at a ball. Incroyables in jackets with outsize buttons and collars, long cravat, huge bicorn hat, and merveilleuses with decollete dresses and large lace collars

The problem with Capote bonnets: two womens deep-brimmed bonnets collide as they greet each other, while fashionable men watch

Fashionable couples dancing La Sauteuse
Fashionable couples dancing la Sauteuse, a pair dance popular circa 1800. The man grips the woman around the waist, while jumping from foot to foot and spinning her around

Evening party at Coblentz (between rue Taitbout and rue Neuve-Lepelletier, Paris). A group of women and children (including a black woman)

Two incroyables (fops) with cudgels hinder the promenade of two merveilleuses by pinning the tails of their dresses. One looks back coquettishly at the ridiculous dandy

Fashionable dancers performing La Trenis, a country dance section in the popular quadrille created by the French dance master Trenitz

The bored women of Longchamp racetrack. Three fashionable bored women sit among a mountain of chairs as a maid clears them away

Miss Pastel and her mother
Miss Pastel followed by her mother. A young beauty art student carries brushes, palette and canvas, while her mother in bonnet, shawl and gloves carries a heavy easel and stool

Three Parisian graces, circa 1800. Three unattractive maids wear the latest Paris fashions. Its certainly true that in fashion a servile herd of imitators abounds

Merveilleuses playing the game of blind mans buff. A blindfolded woman runs in a garden as one woman strokes her hand and another grabs her muslin dress

Merveilleuses playing the four corners game of tag
The four corners game of tag. Five merveilleuses in muslin dresses play the game of four corners, a version of tag. Illustration by Dominique Bosio

Choosing the jockey: Young woman in form-revealing dress and short martyr hairstyle seated on chaise longue pointing to a young man with a dog, while two older men and a black servant boy watch

Merveilleuses playing the game of La Main Chaude
La main chaude or Paumele. Merveilleuses in flimsy muslin dresses play the game of hot hands. One girl buries her head in anothers lap, and has to guess which friend slaps her arm

Girls skipping in a park, early 19th century
Girls playing the skipping game of Walking under the Arch, boy playing hoop, while another girl watches. Scene in a Paris park

A woman writes a letter on a somno in a messy
A woman writes a letter on a somno (night table containing a chamberpot) with her feet on a pillow, while her dog chews a lace collar and a cat sleeps on her ballgown

Woman on a chaise longue looking at a new hat
Woman on a chaise longue in fringed shawl admiring a new hat held by her milliner, while a maid holds a bottle of perfume. The best remedy, or the Longchamp hat

French and English women in similar fashions
Mutual borrowing of fashions between French and English women, early 19th century. Both wear identical style bonnets, frilled dresses, shawls and spencer jackets

Miss Busk and Mr Corset at a dance party. Fashionable couple in tight corsets dancing at a ball. To appear slim, there are young men today who wear corsets like the women

The creole game or flying ring game, early 19thc century
Fashionable people playing the flying ring game or the creole game. When the Parisians adopted the game, it had to be embellished: so the ring was covered with ribbon, then rosettes, then bells

Merveilleuses playing badminton in a garden
Badminton. Merveilleuse in flimsy dresses play a game of badminton in a garden. Several have their hair in the fashionable short cut known as the martyr or victime

Three girls in mid-calf length dresses and pantalons dancing with a shawl. Handcoloured engraving from Pierre de la Mesangeres Le Bon Genre, Paris, 1817

Woman in a shop choosing a new dress, early 19th century
Woman in a shop trying to decide which dress matches her new hat. A shopgirl holds a dress trimmed with flowers, and another with gauze frill

Fashionable woman feeding her pet spaniel
A fashionable woman at the dinner table feeds her pampered spaniel Azor with a chicken wing, the chambermaid eats a herring from a plate on her knees

The roller coaster at Belleville, 1812
The roller coaster at Belleville with its five cars riding a distance of 600 feet in 9 or 10 seconds. A fashionable woman in plumed bonnet, shawl and parasol watches from the terrace

A woman is pampered by her staff
A woman is pampered by her seamstress, her clothes seller, her hairdresser and two chambermaids. As Montesquieu said, For one man to live deliciously, one hundred others must work tirelessly

Rollercoaster in the Jardin Baujon, early 19th century. Fashionable society enjoying the aerial walks, with cars pulled up the central ramp before riding fast chutes to left and right

Munito the wonder dog performing card tricks, 1815
Munito the wonder dog performing card tricks for a fashionable audience, 1815. Handcoloured engraving from Pierre de la Mesangeres Le Bon Genre, Paris, 1817

Ladies and gentlemen share coffee and rolls
Le Dejeuner. Gentlemen in coat tails and breeches and ladies in veils and dresses share a breakfast of coffee and bread. Great familiarity reigns in the morning, one has no time to become ceremonial

Merveilleuses and incroyables dancing the waltz, a newly popular dance imported from Germany. Handcoloured engraving from Pierre de la Mesangeres Le Bon Genre, Paris, 1817

The rollercoaster at Roule, Paris, early 19th century
A gentleman helps a woman step down from a car after a descent down the rollercoaster at Roule (Place de Ternes). Handcoloured engraving from Pierre de la Mesangeres Le Bon Genre, Paris, 1817

Roller coaster at the Barriere du Roule, Paris
Roller coaster at the Barriere du Roule (Place de Ternes, Paris). Fashionable women in bonnets and shawls riding cars down the rollercoaster

Street entertainer balancing on his head on a table. Accompanied by a fiddler and a young boy dancing a jig. Handcoloured engraving from Pierre de la Mesangeres Le Bon Genre, Paris, 1817

Street entertainer performing on a horn and violin. After removing his huge glasses from his nose, the old geezer blows on his horn (sarbacane) and plays the violin, grimacing all the time

Bride examining the contents of her marriage basket. Her bridesmaids show her lace, jewelry, diaments and finery. Handcoloured engraving from Pierre de la Mesangeres Le Bon Genre, Paris, 1817

Jacques de Falaise, street entertainer who ate anything. He is shown eating a live mouse, holding a snake, while an assistant receives a dagger and rose from the audience

Street performer drumming with a violinist
Drummer performing tricks with drumsticks while beating a drum, accompanied by a violinist. Handcoloured engraving from Pierre de la Mesangeres Le Bon Genre, Paris, 1817

Family of street entertainers performing in Paris, 1815
Woman balancing on a candlestick on a table, while a child walks on its hands. Later, Madame Herculanus fixes two anchors in curling papers to her hair

Street entertainer performing tricks with a baton
Street entertainer using a baton to remove a coin from a womans nose without touching her nose. Audience of fashionable women in bonnets, shawls and dresses with frills

Indian sword swallower in Paris, 1816. An assistant holds a sword to show its length (18 inches), and another takes something from a box of tricks

Indian jugglers in Paris, 1816
Indian jugglers, 1816. The man in the centre balances a whip between his eyes, spins rings on his toes and fingers, and threads pearls on a rope with his tongue

Troubadour playing on six instruments, 1815
Troubadour playing on six instruments in front of Prussian and Scots soldiers, 1815. By moving his head, elbows and knees, he plays pan pipes, mandolin, drum, triangle

An organ grinder and a poodle with spinning machine before an audience of fashionable women in bonnets with plumes, shawls and lace dresses

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