Fanny Seward's dress

[Linda Anderson]

My avatar is a posthumous painting of Fanny Seward by Emanuel Leutze.

Betty alerted me to a Seward House Museum Facebook posting on the dress and the painting. Thank you, Betty!

"This dress, which we keep safely in storage except on special occasion (like this Saturday for the Fanny Seward tour!), belonged to William Seward's daughter, Fanny. The entire costume seems to be highly customizable to adapt for many occasions. There is only one skirt, which is very full with a bustle in the back, but then there is a jacket, two blouses, and a pair of net sleeves. There is a lot of lavender taffeta, boning, netting, lace, and velvet...

"This post is about the dress, but I'll tell you a little bit about the Leutze portrait as well. If we were to look at this painting in 1866, we would immediately know that it is a postmortem portrait based on the visual clues. I do not know what they all are or what exactly they mean, but the ominous sky, the one white (gloved?) hand, the downward facing bouquet, and the morning glory would all tell us something about her death. Fanny's sister-in-law Anna actually modeled for Leutze, and Fanny's face was based on a recent photograph."

https://www.facebook.com/SewardHouseMuse...0&filter=1

[Jenny]

Thank you for sharing, Linda (and Betty)! Love the lavender dress and the painting. Excellent find!

[BettyO]

I was thrilled to see the dress. To have a look at the actual garment she is wearing in the painting was a real treat!

[Eva Elisabeth]

Linda, I cannot find what you have posted, nor the dress which, if I understand correctly, is somewhere hidden on that site - I'd love to see it. Where is it?

[Linda Anderson]

(02-15-2015 06:49 PM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  Linda, I cannot find what you have posted, nor the dress which, if I understand correctly, is somewhere hidden on that site - I'd love to see it. Where is it?

Eva, I had to google to find the posting about Fanny's dress since the link I posted above has been updated. Thanks for pointing that out. The post is by Natalie from the Seward House Museum.

https://www.facebook.com/SewardHouseMuse...4961365224

Here is the portrait of Fanny by Leutze.

http://sewardhouse.org/gallery/fanny-seward-by-leutze/

[Anita]

Linda thanks so much! What a wonderful site. So very well done.

I was not aware of the clues hidden in the portrait to indicate it was painted posthumously. Like Fanny, the dress and the portrait are special. The dress is so airy and delicate and it's a beautiful shade of lavender.

Check out this link and scroll down to see more on this dress and other clothes and portraits.

http://sewardhouse.org/wp-content/upload...onShow.pdf

[Eva Elisabeth]

Thanks for the new link to the dress, Linda! Anita, that's a fantastic link, too, thanks!! Amazing the dress still exists!

(02-15-2015 08:35 PM)Anita Wrote:  The dress is so airy and delicate and it's a beautiful shade of lavender.

Absolutely - I LOVE the color, especially in "shiny silk"! And it obviously hasn't faded over the years!

[Eva Elisabeth]

(02-15-2015 08:35 PM)Anita Wrote:  I was not aware of the clues hidden in the portrait to indicate it was painted posthumously.

Don't worry, Anita, obviously the lady from the Seward House wasn't either - "I do not know what they all are or what exactly they mean..." To me the wording means she (only) knows we would (immediately) have noticed such clues if we had seen the portrait in 1866. (???) However.

According to Trudy Krisher's bio, the portrait was only completed posthumously, but Leutze evidently began when Fanny was still alive. Ms. Krisher also writes:

"The soft, romantic brush strokes he [Leutze] used echoed the tenderness that was Fanny's character, yet the lavender shades of Fanny's gown subjected a subdued, mournful spirit of loss*. The fall leaves...hinted at the October autumn of Fanny's death, and the morning glory vines...at the nature's seasonal resurrections. The symbolism of Fanny's approaching death was suggested in the sky darkening above her head, and the soft parting in the clouds implied that, after death, Fanny had been taken to a better place**."

* My question - if I remember correcly, lavender/purple was a Victorian mourning color, which would support this interpretation. On the other hand the lavender dress really existed, and Fanny wore it, it was not a feature and meaning posthumously added by the artist. And I cannot imagine Fanny wore it to hint at her own death, nor the artist asking her to do for this purpose. How would this go along?

**...in which she herself (- if I remember correcly, I have to check again, maybe Linda knows either - ) didn't thoroughly believe...

[L Verge]

Lavender and purple were colors used when coming out of full mourning - or could be worn to funerals of associates for whom one would not go into full mourning. Fanny would have still been in full mourning for her mother at the time of her own death, I believe.

There is something in me that says this dress is too "frivolous" and fancy to be part of a mourning ensemble... I suspect that Fanny liked lavender and needed a party dress sometime before the horrors of April 1865.

[Linda Anderson]

Fanny died 16 months after her mother. How long does the mourning period last for, Laurie?

Fanny wrote that she and Anna went shopping in October 1862 for Fanny's "first winter 'out' in Washington. Among other things I purchased a sack cloak of beaver cloth, a white embroidered muslin dress, and a plain silk of an indescribable color - not Magenta, nor yet purple - but red at night, & in the day-time inclining to purple - a new shade."

Fanny's coming out reception was on Jan. 1, 1863. She went to Mrs. Lincoln's New Year's Day reception and then went home. "Had very little time to dress for our own reception, and, as visitors were admitted sooner than we expected, neither Anna nor I were ready to see the first comers. She was down before me - It took me so long to fix my hair. I wore the red (?) purple (?) dress to receive in."

Could that be the dress in the Leutze portrait? Would it look red at night?

[L Verge]

Fanny would have mourned her mother for at least a year. She would then have properly started coming out of mourning with tiny embellishments like a white collar on her black dress, touches of gold on jewelry, etc. That could last as long as six months and gradually turn into subdued shades of gray, purple, and lavender. I am still inclined to think that this dress was a party dress from 1864 or earlier.

There are silks and satins that change color according to how light hits them, but I can't imagine that drastic a change from red to lavender. That is also not a "plain silk" dress that I am looking at - especially as shown on the front cover of Ms. Krisher's book. That is a gorgeous dress that belies the image we tend to have of the shy and retiring Miss Fanny Seward.

[Susan Higginbotham]

Does anyone know if Fanny attended the ball to celebrate Lincoln's second inauguration? She was in Washington at the time, I believe, and it would have been an ideal occasion for such an elaborate dress.

[RJNorton]

(02-16-2015 12:05 PM)L Verge Wrote:  Lavender and purple were colors used when coming out of full mourning...

Regarding the January 1, 1864, New Year's Day reception, journalist Noah Brooks wrote:

The President looks better since he has had the varioloid. I don’t mean to insinuate that the disease has added any new charms to his features; but his complexion is clearer, his eyes less lack-luster and he has a hue of health to which he has long been a stranger. He stood up manfully against the great crush and bore the hand-shaking like a blessed old martyr, as he is. My feminine readers will be interested to know that Mrs. Lincoln wore a purple velvet dress, decorated with white satin flutings (isn’t that what you call it?) around the bottom; Valenciennes lace was on the sleeves, and an immense train flowed out behind. Mrs. Lincoln never looked better than in the dark, rich tones of her reception dress, in which she has, for the first time, left off her mourning garb….”

Could Mary's choice of color be indicating to everyone that she was finally coming out of mourning for Willie?

[Eva Elisabeth]

(02-16-2015 12:05 PM)L Verge Wrote:  There is something in me that says this dress is too "frivolous" and fancy to be part of a mourning ensemble... I suspect that Fanny liked lavender and needed a party dress sometime before the horrors of April 1865.

Thanks, Laurie, my intuition. This is too playful with the delicate gathers and the white lace cuffs.
Re: "That is a gorgeous dress that belies the image we tend to have of the shy and retiring Miss Fanny Seward" - from what Ms. Krisher writes, Fanny increasingly loved society events, dressing up etc., and became a self-confident host herself.

[Eva Elisabeth]

(02-16-2015 02:41 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  

(02-16-2015 12:05 PM)L Verge Wrote:  Lavender and purple were colors used when coming out of full mourning...

Regarding the January 1, 1864, New Year's Day reception, journalist Noah Brooks wrote:

The President looks better since he has had the varioloid. I don’t mean to insinuate that the disease has added any new charms to his features; but his complexion is clearer, his eyes less lack-luster and he has a hue of health to which he has long been a stranger. He stood up manfully against the great crush and bore the hand-shaking like a blessed old martyr, as he is. My feminine readers will be interested to know that Mrs. Lincoln wore a purple velvet dress, decorated with white satin flutings (isn’t that what you call it?) around the bottom; Valenciennes lace was on the sleeves, and an immense train flowed out behind. Mrs. Lincoln never looked better than in the dark, rich tones of her reception dress, in which she has, for the first time, left off her mourning garb….”

Could Mary's choice of color be indicating to everyone that she was finally coming out of mourning for Willie?

I think you are right (and a little over a year later, at the 2nd inaugural ball, she even wore a white satin off-the-shoulder gown with jasmine and violets woven in her hair).
Roger, the description matches pretty well a dress she wore during the Washington winter social season in 1861–62 (despite the white satin flutings around the bottom):
   
Is it possible she wore an "old" dress again for such an occasion?