18th-Century Characters, Including Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 35

[cahn]

In the previous post Charles II found AITA:

Look, I, m, believe in live and let live. (And in not going on my travels again. Had enough of that to last a life time.) Why can't everyone else around me be more chill? Instead, my wife refuses to employ my girlfriend, my girlfriend won't budge and accept another office, my brother is set on a course to piss off everyone (he WILL go on his travels again), and my oldest kid shows signs of wanting my job which is just not on, sorry to say. And don't get me started about Mom (thank God she's living abroad). What am I doing wrong? AITA?

Comments

Re: Émilie fandom exhibit

[mildred_of_midgard]

Yes, it's in the Alte Pinakothek, in the 18th Century France section, near the most famous portrait of Madame de Pompadour by Boucher, in fact

Excellent! I'll have to keep an eye out for it next time, now that I know who she is. :) I'm looking forward to going back, since the one time I was there was during my days when overwalking induced foot pain, and since Munich was near the end of our itinerary, I was all walked out by the time I got to the Alte Pinakothek and spent far more time sitting down than I would have liked. Must go back!

I wonder whether this (the color, not the ribbons per se) was a fashion trend and/or meant to symbolize something?

Yeah, good question! The term "bluestocking" came to mind. I googled it and found that it was a development in England starting in the 1750s.

Bluestocking is a term for an educated, intellectual woman, originally a member of the 18th-century Blue Stockings Society from England led by the hostess and critic Elizabeth Montagu (1718–1800), the "Queen of the Blues", including Elizabeth Vesey (1715–1791), Hester Chapone (1727–1801) and the classicist Elizabeth Carter (1717–1806). In the following generation came Hester Lynch Piozzi (1741–1821), Hannah More (1745–1833) and Frances Burney (1752–1840). The term now more broadly applies to women who show interest in literary or intellectual matters.

Until the late 18th century, the term had referred to learned people of both sexes. It was later applied primarily to intellectual women and the French equivalent bas bleu had a similar connotation. The term later developed negative implications and is now often used in a derogatory manner. The reference to blue stockings may arise from the time when woollen worsted stockings were informal dress, in contrast to formal, fashionable black silk stockings. The most frequent such reference is to a man, Benjamin Stillingfleet, who reportedly lacked the formal black stockings, yet participated in the Blue Stockings Society. As Frances Burney, a Bluestocking, recounts the events, she reveals that Stillingfleet was invited to a literary meeting by Elizabeth Vesey but was told off because of his informal attire. Her response was "don’t mind dress! Come in your blue stockings!"

So given the rampant Anglophilia in upper class France, and the fact that they did borrow the term "bas bleu", and given that Elizabeth Montagu was called "Queen of the Blues," not just queen of bluestockings, it's possible that "blue" became associated with intellectuals in France in the second half of the 18th century. These women weren't going to have their expensive commissioned portraits depict them wearing worsted woollen stockings, but they could easily have made their fancy ribbons blue to signal solidarity with their English intellectual sisters.

Just a hypothesis! I can't find direct evidence in the little time I have.