People from different times
•Pictures of people from different times can tell us a lot about what it was like to live a long time ago. They will show us how people lived and dressed differently. The houses they lived in and they clothes they wear will often tell you something about the persons position and status in life.
•If they had status their clothes would be made of rich and decorative textiles and may be decorated with gold or jewels. See the work The Blue Boy, 1770 by Thomas Gainsborough. People who were poor would probably make their own clothes which would be more functional. See the work The Potato Gatherers, 1878 by Jules Bastien-Lepage.
•Paintings of people from different times would show them wearing things that not many people wear today, for example hats and gloves, bowties and fancy coat collars of lace or feathers. See the work Family Group in a Landscape, c. 1640s by Frans Hals.
•Men wore more beards and moustaches, their hair may have been long and in much earlier times they may have worn wigs and stockings. Women’s dresses were long, they had long hair which they wore tied up or wore scarves. They used little makeup and only the wealthy could afford to wear jewellery. See the work The Marriage Contract, before 1743 by William Hogarth.
•Wealthy or important people lived in large houses or castles with high ceilings and had expensive furnishings and decorative items. They often had servants to do all the domestic duties such as cooking, cleaning and washing. If they lived in the country they probably owned lots of land.
•People who were poor lived in small, cramped and dark houses, often in crowded city areas. They had little in the way of furniture, apart from their basic needs and few conveniences such as no inside bathroom or toilet, and only a very small plot of land, if any. The children would play in the street.
•Artists were paid to paint portraits of people who were important, wealthy or had a high position in life. Before the invention of the camera this was a way of recording their importance,. See the work The Infante, Philip Prosper, 1659 by Velasquez.
•Only wealthy people owned or could pay artists to make paintings.
When do you think these people lived? CLICK on the images below to find out more!
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