BRETT, HON R
Neg. No: GP (L) 1529
Neg. Size: 15"x12"
Neg. Date: 27-07-1897

Sitter: Hon Reginald Baliol Brett, later 2nd Viscount Esher (1852-1930).

Image displayed in:

Biog: Courtier and Government Official. (Secretary to the Office of Works with special responsibility for superintending the Diamond Jubilee celebrations in 1897).

Role: Gentleman of France.⁽¹⁾ 

Date: 27 July 1897. 

Occasion: The Devonshire House Ball, 2 July 1897. 

Location: The Lafayette studio, 179 New Bond Street, London, W. 

Descr: FL standing. 

Costume:

"Hardly a moment to spare. I just had time to tear in and look at a black fancy dress - time 1628 - for the Ball - all black velvet and trimmed with beads, and a ruff! And long silk legs in which I suppose I shall look as big a tomfool as everybody else - or more so! The d----d Jubilee is getting very much on my nerves to-day, as there have been no alleviations in the way of funny incidents... {June 18} ... I have tried on my fancy dress. It is black with puffed short breeches, which come very high up and stick out, and long black silk tights, and a black velvet jacket and coat. I want a dagger - but I don't know where to get a good one." Maurice V. Brett ed, Journals and Letters of Reginald Viscount Esher, Vol I: 1870-1903, London, 1934, pp 202-3.  

Costume Supplier: J. Simmons & Son, 35 Haymarket, London W. 

Orders, Decorations and Medals: - 

Furniture & Props: Painted backdrop; Jacobean-style photographer's chair with detachable crest-rail.

Evidence of photographer at work: Base of clamp, visible behind sitter's feet. 

No of poses: 1. 

Copyright: V&A

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Biog: Dictionary of National Biography; Burke's Peerage; Who's Who; The Times, 23 January 1930, pp 16 & 17a. 

Occasion: Sophia Murphy, The Duchess of Devonshire's Ball, London, 1984. 

Role and Costume: Maurice V. Brett ed, Journals and Letters of Reginald Viscount Esher, Vol I: 1870-1903, London, 1934, p 200-202 & photo opp. p 204. 

Costume Supplier: Daily Graphic, 3 July 1897, p 13b. 

Orders, Decorations and Medals: - 

Reproduced: Devonshire House Fancy Dress Ball, July 2 1897: A Collection of Portraits in Costume of Some of the Guests, privately printed, 1899, p 189, (National Portrait Gallery Archives); Maurice V. Brett ed, Journals and Letters of Reginald Viscount Esher, Vol I: 1870-1903, London, 1934, opp p 204 (captioned: A Gentleman of France in 1628.)

1. Role erroneously reported as "An Elizabethan Noble".