Design Card 'Minerva with the diplax' by Thomas Hope
Date
1875-1922
Level of description
Item
Extent and medium
Dimensions: 151mm X 250mm
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 of a design by artist and collector Thomas Hope it was illustration 141 in Costumes of the Ancients (1809), entitled 'Minerva with the diplax' and showing an illustration of the Roman goddess Minerva . Minerva was the goddess of wisdom, war and the arts she is shown here on a plinth in diplax, a form of classical outerwear worn by women.
Hope writes (p23 Costumes of the Ancients (1809))
The peplum constituted the outermost covering of the body. Among the Greeks it was worn in common by both sexes, but was chiefly reserved for occasions of ceremony or of public appearance, and as well in its texture as in its shape, seemed to answer to our shawl. when very long and ample, so as to admit of being wound twice round the body — first under the arms, and the second time, over the shoulders — it assumed the name of diplax. In rainy or cold weather it was drawn over the Head. At other times this peculiar mode of wearing it was expressive of humility or of grief, and was adopted by men and women when in mourning, or when performing sacred rites; on both which accounts it was thus worn by Agamemnon, when going to sacrifice his daughter.
Hope's interest was in the the accurate reflection of ancient costume and his drawings acted as reference works for contemporary artists, 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 writes (p23 Costumes of the Ancients (1809))
The peplum constituted the outermost covering of the body. Among the Greeks it was worn in common by both sexes, but was chiefly reserved for occasions of ceremony or of public appearance, and as well in its texture as in its shape, seemed to answer to our shawl. when very long and ample, so as to admit of being wound twice round the body — first under the arms, and the second time, over the shoulders — it assumed the name of diplax. In rainy or cold weather it was drawn over the Head. At other times this peculiar mode of wearing it was expressive of humility or of grief, and was adopted by men and women when in mourning, or when performing sacred rites; on both which accounts it was thus worn by Agamemnon, when going to sacrifice his daughter.
Hope's interest was in the the accurate reflection of ancient costume and his drawings acted as reference works for contemporary artists, 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
Imported 26/07/2024 - 35
Reference code
D1/576
