Keep in mind that fashion dictates in 1775 and 1875 are worlds apart.
 
J~

John M. Johnston,
"There is a fine line between hobby and  mental illness." Dave Barry

In a message dated 7/13/2008 10:03:40 A.M.  Central Daylight Time, 
nichael@s... writes:
ruby@m...  wrote:
>There is a wonderful painting in the Musee D'Orsay in  Paris
>called "the Floor Planers"  done in 1875 and it shows  3
>barefoot and shirtless workers refinishing a floor.  At  the
>time it was rejected for its "crude realism" and  "vulgar
>subject matter".  One critic even said of the "that is  so
>accurate that it makes it bourgeois".

This is getting radically  off-topic, but there are a number of interesting
studies examining the  differences in the depiction of individuals in
paintings and in photography  as that medium became common.

The change was particularly striking when  the subject was the
day-to-day life of common working folks.   Even  when laborers
are obviously posed --and it is likely that the subjects may  have
been spiffed up for the occasion-- the difference is  typically
significant between what the camera shows and the  pristine,
idyllic world in paintings at the same time.

>Perhaps no  one wanted to admit that workers needed to be
>comfortable in their work  and they inaccurately portrayed
>them for the sake of propriety?

Or  more generally, I think that traditionally most folks have not
wanted to look  too closely at the accurate details of where most
of the items in their  comfortable world come from.

>Ed Minch
>
>See the painting  at:
>
>http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/collections/works-in-focus/painting/commentaire_
id/the-floor-planers-7164.html?tx_commentaire_pi1%5BpidLi%5D=509&tx_commentair
e_pi1%5Bfrom%5D=841&cHash=72e9505792
>
>   Don McConnell  wrote:
>
> > Gaynor  & Hagedorn, in _Tools, Working Wood in
> >  Eighteenth-Century
> > America_, c. 1993, reproduce an oil painting,  ca. 1725,
> > entitled
> > "The Carpenter's Yard," by Jack  Laguerre. In it, all of
> > the
> > carpenters are shown  wearing breeches, aprons, stockings,
> > shoes
> > and shirts.  Only the master and his client are wearing
> > waistcoats
> >  and coats.
> >
> > It may well have been that nearly all men  wore waistcoats
> > and
> > coats when "in public," which  might explain the
> > descriptions of
> > runaway apprentices  as wearing coats, etc. Besides, it
> > could have
> > been the  easiest way to carry them. But this painting
> > clearly
> >  indicates that they could be shed, depending on the
> > weather  I
> > suppose, while actually at work.
> >
> > Don  McConnell
> > Eureka Springs, AR
> >
 

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