One of my favorite beauty-fashion-fragrance blogs is The Non-Blonde; I read it every day. Gaia, the stylish and smart brunette behind the site, is always discerning and articulate in her product reviews and other commentary.
Her recent review of the vintage fragrance Écusson by Jean d’Albert was, as always, a pleasure to read. It also inspired me to write today’s post here on Tinsel Creation, because one of the vintage Écusson ads in her post set off an art historical spark in my memory.
The unknown artist who worked on the Jean d’Albert ad for Écusson (which translates as “shield”) was obviously inspired by Hans Holbein the Younger’s portrait of Jane Seymour, third wife of Henry the Eighth.
The original portrait dates to 1536-37 (Seymour died from complications after childbirth in October 1537). Holbein emphasized Seymour’s likeness as well as her rich, ornate gown and her various jeweled ornaments.
The Écusson advertisement gave its female figure a more conventionally attractive face, by 1950s standards, but it kept many details of Seymour’s gown, headdress, and pendants (gold, rubies, pearls—fit for a Queen). That style of headdress, I’ve just learned, is known as a “gable hood.”
I’m certainly not an expert on sixteenth-century English portraits, but I’ve also learned that Holbein’s portrait was the probable source for the so-called “Nidd Hall Portrait” of Anne Boleyn, Henry’s second wife. (Since most original portraits of Boleyn were destroyed upon the occasion of her execution for treason, new ones were created later on.)
I thought I’d include it here since we’re having a bit of an Anne Boleyn cultural revival, once again, thanks to Hilary Mantel’s novels Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies. (They’re on my to-read list.)
Thanks to Gaia for introducing me to this image!
For more posts in this series, click here.
Images: Écusson by Jean d’Albert advertisement (1956), via HPrints; Hans Holbein portrait of Jane Seymour (1536-37), via Wikimedia Commons; possible portrait of Anne Boleyn via Wikipedia.
What a charming piece.
It’s always such fun to pick apart the art historical influences in advertising.
As a small aside, the portrait was used to provide a basis for other images of Jane during her life and after her own death including in mural and tapestry. In addition it is regarded by some to have influenced portraits of the son son she died giving birth to the sickly Edward VI.
Finally, though Jane would have been necessarily painted on her becoming a Queen consort, it was not uncommon for women of the middle classes and upwards to feature in a portrait during their first pregnancy in case they did not survive childbirth, a reason why many of these pictures can often seem a little distant and even melancholy…
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
This is fascinating information. Thank you, Sir Dandy!
I hope you don’t mind if I keep repeating how much I enjoy this your series. It fascinates me how your eye and your brain work finding those allusions.
I do not mind, no! I’m so happy that you’ve been enjoying these posts, because I love working on them.
I really loved this post!
Thank you, LS!! I appreciate your loyal readership. :)