01 painting, The amorous game, John Lewis Brown's The charms of the grisette and the soldiers of the regiment, With Footnotes, #86

John Lewis Brown (1829–1890)

The charms of the grisette and the soldiers of the regiment, c. 1876

Oil on panel

59 x 49 CM

Private collection

The word grisette has referred to a French working-class woman from the late 17th century and remained in common use through the Belle Époque era, albeit with some modifications to its meaning. It derives from gris (French for grey), and refers to the cheap grey fabric of the dresses these women originally wore. By the 1835 she was described as:

a young working woman who is coquettish and flirtatious.

In practice, "young working woman" referred primarily to those employed in the garment and millinery trades as seamstresses or shop assistants, the few occupations open to them in 19th century urban France, apart from domestic service. The sexual connotations which had long accompanied the word are made explicit in Webster's Third New International Dictionary (1976) which lists one of its meanings as a young woman who combines part-time prostitution with another occupation. More on a grisette

John Lewis Brown (1829–1890) was a French battle, animal, and genre painter. He was born in Bordeaux of a Scottish family of Stuart partisans. He studied in the École des Beaux-Arts with Camille Roqueplan and Jean-Hillaire Belloc.[1] He is known for his pictures of hunting and military scenes, and his studies of horses and dogs. He painted a number of admirable pictures from the American Revolutionary War, the Seven Years' War, and the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. His presentation is clever and humorous, his work characterized by refinement and charm. The Luxembourg possesses his "Before the Start," the Gallery of Dublin, "The Mountebank." He was also an excellent etcher and aquarellist. More on John Lewis Brown

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