Chocolate and Romance from the 17th Century

This Giveaway has now ended and the winner is Susan Heim! Congratulations to Susan, and thank you to everyone who commented, or followed me on Facebook or the blog.

The Chocolate Girl

by Jean Etienne Liotard

I first wrote about this painting back in December last year in a post about maidservants, but I thought it was a great story for a Valentine's week post and worth highlighting again. I don't know if there is a novel based on this Cinderella-like tale, but it might make a good one. (No plans for it myself!)

The story behind the commissioning of this painting is a great romantic myth. The girl in the portrait, Anna Baltauf, worked as a maidservant in one of the Viennese chocolate shops which had become hugely popular during the 17th and18th centuries. She had little chance of good marriage as her father was too poor to give her a good dowry, however in the summer of 1745, a young Austrian nobleman - Prince Dietrichstein - came into the shop. He fell in love with the Chocolate Girl and asked her to marry him, despite objections from his family As a wedding present to his 'chocolate girl' he commissioned this portrait of his wife wearing the maid’s costume she was wearing when he first set eyes on her. Is this true? I guess we'll never really know.

Ella Appleby from my book The Gilded Lily would have loved this story. It was what she dreamed about for herself, that a prince might come and rescue her from her humdrum life. Sadie, her sister, would have gently told her to stop dreaming and to deliver the tray to the customer before the chocolate went cold.

More information about the story can be found here

The painting itself, formerly in Dresden, survived World War II and Allied bombs by being kept in a damp cellar in Konigstein Fortress  and brought back to Dresden after the Germans retreated from advancing Russian troops. Fortunately it seems none the worse, and is a wonderful portrait of costume and detail from the mid 18th century.

The same girl can be seen in one of Liotard's other works, 'The Breakfast.' 

I am offering two copies of THE GILDED LILY - one for the Hearts through History Blog Hop, and one for the League of British Artists Valentine Giveaway. (Click to take you there)

Both are International - wherever Book Depository delivers.

Please comment below to enter the Hearts Through History Giveaway and leave an email address. Two extra entries for following my blog, one extra entry if you 'like' my facebook page http://www.facebook.com/TheGildedLilyBook

Hop Participants - Hearts Through History 

Random Bits of Fascination (Maria Grace)
Pillings Writing Corner (David Pilling)
Sally Smith O’Rourke
Darcyholic Diversions (Barbara Tiller Cole)
Faith, Hope and Cherry Tea
Rosanne Lortz
Sharon Lathan
Debra Brown
Heyerwood (Lauren Gilbert)
Regina Jeffers
Ginger Myrick
Anna Belfrage
Fall in love with history (Grace Elliot)
Nancy Bilyeau
Wendy Dunn
E.M. Powell
Georgie Lee
The Riddle of Writing (Deborah Swift)
Outtakes from a Historical Novelist (Kim Rendfeld)
The heart of romance (Sherry Gloag)
A day in the life of patootie (Lori Crane)
Karen Aminadra
Dunhaven Place (Heidi Ashworth)
Stephanie Renee dos Santos 

Good luck everyone!

Thimbles - 17thCentury Engagement Rings

www.silive.com

Thinking about Valentine's Day ahead, I thought I'd share with you a snippet of research I discovered when I was writing my novel 'The Lady's Slipper' which features a woman who travels to the New World (ie America) in the 17th century.

I read that the Quakers and Puritans -some of the first settlers in the New World - did not like to wear jewellery, including wedding and engagement rings. This was because of their beliefs in living a simple and unostentatious life without embellishment or adornment - plain clothes in muted colours, and no unnecessary decoration.

17thC open-topped thimble www.treasurenet.com

Instead of the giving of a ring, it apparently became the custom for a betrothed couple to exchange a thimble. The thimble was something practical and was used by young women to sew household linens, and garments used as part of their dowry.

After the wedding, the man would cut off the cup of the thimble thus symbolizing that the young woman's sewing was over and the dowry was complete. The rim was then worn as a ring.

www.mercerieambulante.typepad.com

Some people dispute this claim, that thimbles were used as wedding rings, as a sort of 17th century urban myth. Click the link for the arguments against the idea.

Also, Quaker weddings at the time were not like the usual 17th century wedding in that they were agreed by the whole community of Quakers and subject to the feeling of the meeting as to whether the union was 'right.'

But being an old romantic, and loving a good story I like to think that young men would have used a romantic gesture like the giving of a thimble - so I prefer to believe this is true!

The Promise by Ann Weisgarber, the Galveston Hurricane

I loved Ann Weisgarber's other novel, so couldn't wait to grab this when it came up on Vine. Lovers of literary or historical fiction will find this a fascinating account of the Galveston disaster - a hurricane and tidal wave that swept the shores of Texas at the turn of the 20th century.

The two women telling the story have very distinct voices and I felt myself alternately rooting for first one and then the other.From different backgrounds, the two women are forced into each others company by their relationships with the same man, Oscar, and the child, Andre, left behind after the death of his first wife.

The relationship between the women is naturally uncomfortable, but this is subtly drawn, and never vocalised. The two main characters, Catherine and Nan, each tell it how it was for them, their view of the other, and great tension arises from this. The settings are so real you think you have been there. When the hurricane strikes the drama is all in the characters - in a way they make an impression far bigger than the hurricane, though that too is beautifully descibed. Poignant and moving, I was gripped and stayed up late to finish it - highly recommended.

I'd never heard of this hurricane or Galveston, so I have been educated as well as entertained.

If you want to know more about the disaster, then here is the wiki link

after the hurricane