Two Women and a Child – 1853

Two women and a child in a parlor, France 1853

Two women and a girl stand in a well-appointed French parlor during France’s Second Empire period. The woman in the center wears a blue dress with a three-tiered skirt and three-quarter sleeves. The dress is accented with bands and square motifs of dark blue floral patterns. Her white blouse has a jewel neckline with a narrow falling collar of lace, a lace ruffle down the center front, and ruffles of lace at the cuffs.

She wears yellow gloves and a multi-tonal band on her head that seems to be a wrapped roll, worn as a type of turban. The young woman on the left wears a white dress with a pink satin overdress worn like a jumper or pinafore. The pink dress is trimmed along the round neckline, cap sleeves, and hem with narrow pink ruching. The white under dress has a jewel neckline, with a narrow ruffle at the neck, and full semi-transparent sleeves gathered into cuffs. The pink dress has a front pocket trimmed with buttons and a pink bow.

There are more pink bows which run down the back of the dress and she wears black netted gloves. The child on the right stands sideways on a red upholstered chair in the ornate style of Louis-Napoleon. The child wears a light blue skirt and bodice accented with pink and black scrolled embroidery. Underneath this outfit she wears a white blouse and white lace pantalettes. She wears brown and black ankle boots and an elaborate white hat with lappets trimmed with folded ribbons. The room has high ceilings with crown molding and wall panels covered with pink fabric.

Pink and green striped floor-to-ceiling silk draperies with hanging tassels cover the windows. There is an Empire-style mantel in the background which displays a white portrait-bust of a woman, two ornate vases, and small figurines. A gilded mirror hangs above the mantel. Behind the child and on the green and pink carpeted floor are the child’s toys — a half built house of cards on the table, with some cards fallen to the floor, a jump rope, and a ball. A pillow rests on the floor in the foreground.

Credit: The Claremont Colleges