Carington Bowles

THE STUDIOUS BEAUTY

13 x 17 inches

Drolls were very popular prints in the latter half of the Eighteenth Century; usually small scale, predominantly produced in mezzotint and always either humorous or sentimental in subject. They became a very popular way of decorating alongside more formal portraiture and topography and give us a fascinating insight into the fashions, furnishings and frivolities of the late Georgian era.

In this particular image an aristocratic young lady sits at her window reading. She is dressed in the high fashion of the day with an impossibly clipped waist, hair piled high and topped with an elaborate hat, long skirts and coquettish shoes. The glimpse of ankle would suggest that she is not as studious as she first appears!