Design Card 'Dancing Females' by Thomas Hope
Date
1875-1922
Level of description
Item
Extent and medium
Dimensions: 151mm X 240mm
Creator
Royal School of Needlework: Created by the Royal School of Art Needlework as miniaturised versions of designs. Original designs were miniaturised and either traced or copied onto 'Design Cards' which were sent out to clients for next day approval. This was part of the work of the 'Painting Room' sometimes referred to as the Paintroom, the department responsible for all design and draftsmanship.
Hope, Thomas: (1769-1831) Born in Amsterdam, where his family, of Scots descent, had resided and worked as merchants and bankers for several generations Hope became a connoisseur and collector of antiques. An influential arbiter of taste he exhibited his collections and published books on architecture and furniture including Household Furniture and Interior Decoration (1807), Costumes of the Ancients (1809), An Historical Essay on Architecture (1835), and Anastasius, or Memoirs of a Modern Greek. Hope altered an Adam's house at Duchess Street, Portland Place, London, to house his collections and like Soane's house, the building was open to the public, and played a part in popularizing Neo-Classicism (the picture-gallery was one of the earliest English interiors to be articulated with the Greek Doric Order). At Deepdene, near Dorking, Surrey, he enlarged a house with the assistance of William Atkinson in an asymmetrical Picturesque yet Classical manner, containing much Egyptian ornament, including a bed derived from published French sources. Many of Hope's designs were related to the Empire style of Percier and Fontaine. From: Hope, Thomas in A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, https://www.oxfordreference.com. (Apollo (Sept. 1987), 162–77;Colvin (1995);J. Curl (2005);Hope (1804, 1835, 1962, 1971);Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004);Jane Turner (1996);D. Watkin (1968))
Hope, Thomas: (1769-1831) Born in Amsterdam, where his family, of Scots descent, had resided and worked as merchants and bankers for several generations Hope became a connoisseur and collector of antiques. An influential arbiter of taste he exhibited his collections and published books on architecture and furniture including Household Furniture and Interior Decoration (1807), Costumes of the Ancients (1809), An Historical Essay on Architecture (1835), and Anastasius, or Memoirs of a Modern Greek. Hope altered an Adam's house at Duchess Street, Portland Place, London, to house his collections and like Soane's house, the building was open to the public, and played a part in popularizing Neo-Classicism (the picture-gallery was one of the earliest English interiors to be articulated with the Greek Doric Order). At Deepdene, near Dorking, Surrey, he enlarged a house with the assistance of William Atkinson in an asymmetrical Picturesque yet Classical manner, containing much Egyptian ornament, including a bed derived from published French sources. Many of Hope's designs were related to the Empire style of Percier and Fontaine. From: Hope, Thomas in A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, https://www.oxfordreference.com. (Apollo (Sept. 1987), 162–77;Colvin (1995);J. Curl (2005);Hope (1804, 1835, 1962, 1971);Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004);Jane Turner (1996);D. Watkin (1968))
Scope and content
Tracing showing a design from Costumes of the Ancients (1809), by Artist and collector Thomas Hope (1768-1831) entitled 'Dancing Females'. This was the third illustration in Costumes of the Ancients and was based on a 2nd century BC relief of dancing female figures which was housed in the Borghese Villa but is now part of the collection at the Louvre in Paris. https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010275681. Known as the 'Borghese dancers' it is a classical bass relief in marble and something that Hope would have seen on his travels.
Hope's interest was in the the accurate reflection of ancient costume and his Costumes of the Ancients was a popular reference work for contemporary designers. It is interesting to see this design along with others by Hope in the Royal School of (Art) Needlework's design collection. Its inclusion on a design card suggest that it was offered to clients as an option for designs for needlework. The design card includes the 'Art' in the School's title which dates this to before 1921, it is likely that it was among some of the earlier designs offered by the school and shows that they are using 'scholarly' images reflecting an interest in Classical history and aesthetics, an interest that can be seen in the work of artists like Walter Crane and Selwyn Image who provided multiple designs for the school in the late 19th century including classically draped female figures.
Hope's designs have a strong aesthetic which could have been adapted to needlework. Monochrome illustrations, they pick out distinctive patterns and features of the costume in high contrast and show flowing lines of drapery in clear and graphic style.
For a full version of Costumes of the Ancients held in the University of Toronto Library see https://archive.org/details/costumeofancient00hopeuoft/page/108/mode/2up
Hope's interest was in the the accurate reflection of ancient costume and his Costumes of the Ancients was a popular reference work for contemporary designers. It is interesting to see this design along with others by Hope in the Royal School of (Art) Needlework's design collection. Its inclusion on a design card suggest that it was offered to clients as an option for designs for needlework. The design card includes the 'Art' in the School's title which dates this to before 1921, it is likely that it was among some of the earlier designs offered by the school and shows that they are using 'scholarly' images reflecting an interest in Classical history and aesthetics, an interest that can be seen in the work of artists like Walter Crane and Selwyn Image who provided multiple designs for the school in the late 19th century including classically draped female figures.
Hope's designs have a strong aesthetic which could have been adapted to needlework. Monochrome illustrations, they pick out distinctive patterns and features of the costume in high contrast and show flowing lines of drapery in clear and graphic style.
For a full version of Costumes of the Ancients held in the University of Toronto Library see https://archive.org/details/costumeofancient00hopeuoft/page/108/mode/2up
Transcription
The card is printed 'Royal School of Art Needlework, Exhibition Road, South Kensington' at the top, and 'Kindly return as soon as possible' at the bottom 'Dancing Females'
Reference code
D1/566
