Victorian Paintings

For some extra research into victorian hair makeup and beauty ideals I have started looking at books about Victorian Painting to see how women were represented throughout art in the victorian era. I will be looking through the pictures that inspire me.

The Opra Box

This is a painting by Henry Nelson O'Neil 'The Opra Box' it presents a single figure of a beautiful girl in fashionable clothes. I have chosen this picture because of the early victorian modest hairstyle. This image was painted as a keepsake or a Book of Beauty, this was the product of early victorian society, this celebrated feminine beauty and were often titled 'English Pearls or Portraits of the Boudoir.' A common feature of these books were languid luxurious women with full figures dressed in historic or foreign costume. The main emotional themes are of virginial, romantic abandoned love.

Left - The Young Mother Right - The Soldier's Farewell.

 I couldn't find much information on these two pictures other than the left one (The Young Mother) was painted by Charles West Cope and it was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1846, and the one on the right ( A Soldier's Farewell) was painted by John Callcott Horsley and was an example of one of his less ambitious works, this image was seen as a contemporary scene and showed an admirer summarised by the characteristics 'sunshine and pretty women'. I have chosen these 2 images again because of the hair, the image on the left you get an unique view of what the back of victorian hair looks like which you can not usually get in standard portraiture. I also really like the reference to love and longing in the portraits and this would tie in really well with my character Carmilla.

The Bower Meadow

This image is of The Bower Meadow and was painted by Dante Gabriel Rosetti and was painted in 1850's. This image was created at the time of The Pre-Raphalites and they made a decisive rebellious change to the direction of British photography. They were rebelling agains the Keepsakes and books of beauty that I have shown in the two previous pictures. There was an interest in the medieval and perverse ill posed bodies. Rosetti was one of the most attractive and gifted of this brotherhood it is possible to see a sense of wasted genius, as you can see in this image it is much like the keepsakes but the women were more fleshy and more overtly sensual.

The thing I enjoy about this painting is the whimsical looks on the women's faces, I also see the loose hair as quite rebellious. The women are also pictured dancing and in loose clothing which I would also imagine was quite rebellious at the time.

Hylas and The Nymphs

For some inspiration for my character Carmilla this image was one of a few that really inspired me for my project. This image (seen bottom of the picture) was painted by John William Waterhouse and is called Hylas and the Nymphs. The painting illustrates the Odyssey where Hylas goes to draw fresh water from a lake and is carried away by the nymphs that have fallen in love with his beauty.

This reminds me of how Carmilla has fallen for Laura in the novel, and becomes obsessed with her. I do believe that this a more playful depiction. I like the long flowing hair that is seen tied in a slight not at the back of the head. It is avery seductive image and they are seen grabbing and caressing Hyla's arm.

Flaming June and Beads.

These following pictures also sparked my interest, the first one is by Lord Leighton and us called Flaming June and the bottom right image is by Albert Joseph Moore and is named Beads.

These images really link to the victorian ideal of women being 'fainting beauties' or in the case i am looking as being languid, as Carmilla was described as being 'languid-very languid-indeed, with no sign of being an ivalid.'

Water Babies and Psyche in the Temple of Love

These two images are Water babies and Psyche in the Temple of Love, these were painted in around 1900's so can still be classes as victorian, as you can see in the images the hair is completely different to how it looked at the start of this image as after this we are slowly moving into the Georgian era.

 This is the final image that I saw in the book was by William Frederick Yeames and was called Amy Robsary is is about the murder of Amy Robsary. Ithinkthis painting would be good to link the all the 'mysterious deaths' that were happening in the novel, as Carmilla was feeding on young girls in the night.

The girl in this picture is shown in what looks like her nightdress, and she is in a really dark hallway, this makes me think of the gothic castle that Laura lives in.

Reynolds G (1987). Victorian Painting. London: Guild Publising. p 11 - 179.

Early Victorian Hairstyles

Apollo Knot (1829)

Hairstyles during the victorian period changed drastically as it was Queen Victoria's reign was so long (1837 - 1901). For early Victorian hairstyles I will be focusing on the period from about 1830 - 1860.

At the start of the era the apollo knot was fashionable this was inspired by Queen Victoria which was constructed by a plain or coiled plait attached onto wires to create loops that were worn vertically on top of the head, they then proceeded to become more natural and demure with no use of artificial products and was left dry and natural, often parted in the centre, and drawn into a bun or coil with curls that fell either side of the face.

Bust of Queen Victoria

 Sometimes the hair would be plaited at either side and looped round the ears as this was seen as attractive at the time. The hair would usually sit at the level of the jaw, and was styled cleanly, simply and modestly, the hair was not cut therefore it was long and one length. Hairstyles mirrored the aspirations and social changes that were occurring at the time, the industrial revolution saw the rise of the middle class and brought new fashions for these people, there were soaps to clean the hair as washing had become more accessible, however this often left the hair stringy and dry.

Charlie Arndt Clean and Groomed.

At the beginning of the century wigs were often worn by the older generation of men, however this was not seen as fashionable and dropped off around the middle of the period. Men were also a fan of grooming and styling their beards and facial hair, hair was often relatively long and curly, they often favoured side partings and the hair was usually high to fit under the top hats that were popular at the time. Moustaches, sideburns were the height of fashion but they were groomed to perfection but there was also a trend called 'a la mode' which was a puritan hairstyle where people sported no moustaches and sideburns that was attached by a short beard, a leading example of this look was Abraham Lincoln.

Unknown. (Unknown). The Hair at the Nineteenth Century. Available: http://thehistoryofthehairsworld.com/hair_19th_century.html. Last accessed 9th Feb 2016.

Wald, D. (Unknown). Hair: the styling of society. Available: http://www.chertseymuseum.org/hair. Last accessed 9th Feb 2016.

Research National Portrait Gallery London

To gain some primary research for this project I visited the National Portrait gallery to have a look at the Victorian portraiture, this is one of the best ways to look at Victorian hair and makeup as there was busts of people of the era, so you can get a full 360 view of the hairstyle.

One of my favourite things that I saw in the portrait gallery was this bust of Queen Victoria. This bust was created by Sir Francis Chantrey in 1841, this was made out of marble. This is a good way to see all the way around the hair and is a pretty close match to the hairstyle I did in an earlier post (see early Victorian hairstyles technical).



This is a portrait of Jenny Lind (1820 - 87) she was a singer and was born in Sweden; her exquisite voice, allied with rare qualities of character, aroused intense enthusiasm in British audiences following her debut in 1847. This portrait was by Eduard Magnus and was created with oil on canvas and was created in 1846. I really like this portrait as it shows the Victorian love for décolletage, with short hair to frame the face and elongate the neck.

This image is of the Bronte sisters (from left to right) Anne Bronte (1820-49) Emily Bronte (1818 - 48) and Charlotte Bronte (1816-55) These sisters were the authors of poetry and novels, published pseudonymously. Charlotte's Jayne Eyre and Emily's Wurthering Heights were published in 1847 and Anne's the Tenant of Windfell Hall in the following year. This portrait was found on the top of a cupboard  by the second wife of Charlotte Bronte's husband.

 This is a portrait of Queen Victoria painted by Sir George Hayter this was painted in 1838 and 1863. I believe the portrait was probably done for the Queens coronation as she is seen wearing the crown and holding the staff. In this picture you can see the same hairstyle is worn in this portrait is also on the marble bust of Queen Victoria.

These images are of busts of Angela Catalani (1780 - 1849) who was an Italian opera singer who came to England in 1806, she was described as 'a Roman with the regular Italian antelope face... large eyes, with a sensitive elegant nose and a lively expression. Felicia Dorothea Hemans (1973 - 1835)  who was a poet and a playright she was characterised as 'too many flowers, too little fruit.'
I again really like these busts as I was able to get a good detailed 360 look round the hair. They all show different types of buns and a variety of different curls.

I forgot to take the picture of the details of this portrait  but I especially liked the youthful fresh cheeks that are shown in the picture and the long curled flowing hair.
















This is a portrait and the supporting bust of Lord George Cavendish Bentinck (1802 - 48) he was a statesman and sportsman they are both dated 1848. I have chosen to take a picture of this because it shows how sideburns were popular at the time and also side parted hair.

Gothic Origins & Genre

The gothic often refers to the sinister or supernatural horror genre or the medieval style of architecture.

Gothic was derived as a sort of joke, Horace Walpole applied the world Gothic to the novel The Castle of Otranto which was published in 1764, this was the start of a form of literature that was seen as immoral or wrong, so the authors often did not own up to creating the stories that they wrote and often said that they were derived from foreign text. Gothic novels are known to have strong motifs within them and these include;

• Strange places - Gothic novels are often set in wild rogue landscapes, castles ect. They are set in castles & monasteries as these places are almost like labrynths, they also hint to aristocracy and the catholic religion. 
• Clashing time periods - Ghosts of the past haunting the present day, usually of the medieval era.
• Power and Constraints - The stories often have a strong contrast between power and vulnerability.
• Sexual Power - The novels are often perverse and weird and involve rape, incest and homosexuality.
• The Uncanny - Where new forms take you back to something in the past that you already know, these things are often not quite human.
• The sublime - Is something that is not usually seen as beautiful or normal it is sometimes terrifying and overwhelming.
• Crisis - Times of political change often feeds gothic, so crisis is usually shown in the literature. There was a lot of gothic literature around the time of the French revolution as this fed the literature of the time.
• Supernatural & Real - Uses supernatural and either makes us believe that the supernatural is real or explains the supernatural in a scientific way.

Victorian Motif's and Carmilla;
As a way to break down my understanding of the novel Carmilla I have started to think about how I can apply these Gothic motif's to the novel that I have read.

• Strange places - In the novel Carmilla it is set in a remote location in Styria amid an extensive forest and she lives alone with her father in a castle.
• Clashing time periods - The way I believe clashing time periods come into the book is when they find a portrait of the Countess Mircilla dated 1698, many years before the actual time the book is set in, so Mircilla is infact as old of the portrait as it is of her, so the time periods clash.
• Power and Constraints - The power in the novel is shown by Carmilla as she has a power over Laura, she is also seen as a large powerful cat like animal, this is contrasting to the vulnerable Laura who is unable to do anything about the power of Carmilla.
• Sexual Power - The book has strong lesbian undertones, and in the novel you can see Laura getting uncomfortable with the sexual advances of Carmilla.
• The Uncanny - Laura has a dream when she is younger that a strange woman comes into her bedchamber and caresses her whist she sleeps and ends up biting her, 12 years later when she see's Carmilla they both instantly recognise each other.
• The Sublime - Although Carmilla is seen as beautiful sometimes her advances can be terrifying and overwhelming to Laura, and being a lesbian was not the norm during the Victorian times.
• Crisis - The crisis that is seen in this novel is that all the young women from the surrounding villages are dropping dead from a strange unknown illnesses.
• Supernatural and Real - the way the supernatural is shown is at the end of the story where it turns out that Carmilla is a vampire and the novel explains that people can choose to become a vampire after death.

Mullan J. (Unknown). Discovering Literature: Romantics and Victorians.Available: http://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/the-origins-of-the-gothic. Last accessed 9th Feb 2016.

Mullan J. (Unknown). Gothic Motifs. Available: http://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/gothic-motifs. Last accessed 2nd Feb 2016.

Cuts, Scars and The Perfect Black Eye (Technical)

Products

• Cine-wax or moulding wax.
• Latex
• Sealer
• Black stipple sponges.
• Wound filler.
• Cuts wheel and Bruise wheel.
• Supracolour palette.
• Non flexible collidon.
• Puss
• Tuplast
• Vaseline
• Barrier Cream
• Hair dryer.
• Palette and palette knife.
• Acetone.
• Brushes

Procedure (CUT WAX)

• Warm up wax on back of the hand.
• Apply to skin and blend away the edges with palette knife, use moisturiser to make this easier.
• Create cut/ incision in the wax.
• Cover with latex or sealer to keep this in place.
• Dry with cool hairdryer.
• Stipple on colour, thin this down with alcohol or moisturiser to create a wash.
• Fill the cut with wound filler and blood.
• Use a stipple sponge or pin to create grazes.

Procedure (SCAR)

•  Use barrier cream
• Apply collidon or tuplast to the skin
• hold skin in the scar formation whilst it dries.

Procedure (BLACK EYE)

• Always work from reference material
• Usually heavier in corner and then blend it out
• Mix the colours with moisturiser to make a thinner colour.
• Apply slowly and build it up.
• Add Vaseline on top to make it shiny.

**Health and Safety**

• Make sure you do a patch test when using latex.
• Make sure you are working in a well ventilated room.
• When applying products near eye make sure the eyes are closed and remain closed until the application is finished.
• Cover the models clothing.
• Don't use alcohol near the eye.

Reflection - Black Eye

really struggled creating my black eye, I worked from a reference picture but I found it hard to find one that I liked, after deciding on one I went in with my supracolour palette and mixed this with moisturiser to thin it down,  this was really hard to work with as I didn’t  thin it down enough, and the product slid around the face, on reflection my black eye looks more like a smudge of colour than a black eye, and 
this would not be suitable for HD. 



Reflection - Cuts (Using Wax) 


This cut I have created using wax is probably one of my most successful technical lessons I've had, I really enjoyed sculpting the wax to make it blend into the skin, however on reflection I have realised that it isn't as seamless as I thought, It could do with a lot more blending round the edges and I could have possibly used a sharper tool like a metal spatula to help blend it easier. I found it really difficult to colour as I found that when applying the colour bits of the latex came up which I had used to seal the wax onto the skin so this was really frustrating. I also think I could of benefited from a bit more colouring around the wound. 

Early Victorian Hair (Technical)

Products

• Hair Tie
• Hair Pins
• Tail Comb
• Tongs

Procedure

• Section the hair into a clean middle parting to about the ears.
• Section off the back section and smooth into a low ponytail.
• Pull the ponytail into a bun (use plait, or twisted bun technique.)
• Pin the bun securely into place.
• Take the front sections and loosely plait from about the ears, round the earlobe and pin it onto the bun.
• OR simply curve hair into a triangle shape and pin round bun.
• OR keep hair loose and curl into the face from about ear height.

Inspiration

These are some images that I have collected of early Victorian hairstyles, I have used these to base my Victorian hair technical on, I have stuck to portraits, illustrations and busts from the time to make sure that the hair is an accurate representation rather than just an interpretation. I really like the photo on the right, this is a bust of Queen Victoria that I saw in the National Portrait Gallery in London, so this is what I will recreate in my hair technical.


The first 3 images show my first attempt at this early Victorian hairstyle, as you can see in the right hand side photographs my sectioning could be a lot neater, however I do think the rest of the style looks really neat. I first plaited the hair too tight and too far up the hair during the first try, so I went back again and plaited the hair looser and further down, as you can see from the photographs this looks a lot more effective and gives the classic Victorian shape.

Aging Makeup (Technical)

Products

• Liquid Latex
• Kryolan Old Age Stipple
• Acetone
• Barrier Creams
• Supra Colour Palette
• Hairdryer
• Stipple Sponge
• Brushes

Precautions/ Health and Safety

• Use products in a  well ventilated room.
• Make sure the eyes are closed when applying latex or acetone near eyes.
• Always do an allergy test.
• Apply barrier cream.
• Put the lid back on after using products.
• Be careful with clothes, cover your model over.

Procedure Latex

• Pour the latex in a pot and let it breathe for a bit.
• Cleanse and tone the skin and then apply barrier cream.
• Get the model to close their eyes and hold the skin taught where you are going to apply the latex.
• Stipple the latex onto the skin.
• Dry this with the hairdryer on cool, feel against throat to check temperature.
• Dry until clear.
• Ease the latex with your fingers to create the wrinkles.
• To soften edges soak a baby bud in acetone and rub them away.
• Powder the latex to finish.

Procedure Old Age Stipple

• Cleanse and tone the skin and apply barrier cream.
• Shake the old age stipple before pouring it out.
• Stretch the skin.
• Dry with hairdryer in the same was as the latex.
• Rub the stipple for dry skin.
• You can loosely powder between layers.
• Then colour the old age stipple with Supracolour, make sure to look at all tones in the skin for an even application.

For my latex aging I only layered 1-2 layers onto the skin because I wanted it to create natural definition rather than full blown wrinkles, as you can see in the right picture I had some difficulty with the latex, this was because I was using a stippling sponge that had started to dry and this started pulling up the latex underneath. However I got some acetone and dissolved these problems away andi think this made it look realty subtle and effective (perfect for HD). I am really pleased with the effect I achieved on the hand as it was the most realistic looking.