Hand-in-waistcoat

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The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries (1812), exhibiting the hand-in-waistcoat gesture Jacques-Louis David - The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries - Google Art Project.jpg
The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries (1812), exhibiting the hand-in-waistcoat gesture

The hand-in-waistcoat (also referred to as hand-inside-vest, hand-in-jacket, hand-held-in, or hidden hand) is a gesture commonly found in portraiture during the 18th and 19th centuries, as well as mid-19th century photography. [1] The pose appeared by the 1750s to indicate leadership in a calm and firm manner. It is most often associated with Napoleon Bonaparte because it was used in several portraits made by his artist, Jacques-Louis David, amongst them the 1812 painting Napoleon in His Study . [2] The pose, thought of as being stately, was copied by other portrait painters across Europe and America. Most paintings and photographs show the right hand inserted into the waistcoat/jacket, but some sitters appear with the left hand inserted.

Contents

Background

The hand-in-waistcoat gesture traces back to classical times – Aeschines, founder of a rhetoric school, suggested that speaking with an arm outside of the chiton was bad manners. [3] The pose was used in 18th-century British portraiture as a sign that the sitter was from the upper class. [2] An early 18th-century guide on "genteel behavior" indicates that it denotes "manly boldness tempered with modesty." [3] [4] Art historian Arline Meyer has argued that – in addition to mirroring actual social behaviour or borrowing from classical statuary – the pose became a visualization of English national character in the post-Restoration period; in the context of increasing Anglo-French rivalry, it promoted "a natural, modest, and reticent image that was sanctioned by classical precedent" in contrast to "the gestural exuberance of the French rhetorical style with its Catholic and absolutist associations". [5]

Appearance in photography

With the invention of photography, the pose continued but may have had an additional purpose in preventing blurring by maintaining the sitter's hand in a single place. It is commonly seen in photographs of members of the military, with several American Civil War photographs showing the pose, or indicated by three open buttons on a tunic. [6]

References

  1. ↑ Uwe Fleckner, "Napoleons Hand in der Weste: von der ethischen zur politischen Rhetorik einer Geste' ['Napoleon's hand in the waistcoat: from the ethical to the political rhetoric of a gesture'] Daidalos 64 (June 1997), 122–29
  2. 1 2 Meyer, Arline (March 1995). "Re-dressing classical statuary: The eighteenth-century 'Hand-in-Waistcoat' portrait". Art Bulletin. 77 (1): 45–63. doi:10.2307/3046079. JSTOR   3046079.
  3. 1 2 Holmberg, Tom. "Why is Napoleon depicted with his hand in his coat?". The Napoleon Series. Archived from the original on 2021-04-16. Retrieved 2008-08-26.
  4. ↑ Nivelon, François (Francis) (1737). The Rudiments of Genteel Behavior. London.
  5. ↑ Meyer, Arline (1995). "Re-dressing Classical Statuary: The Eighteenth-Century "Hand-in-Waistcoat" Portrait". The Art Bulletin. 77 (1): 45–63. doi:10.2307/3046079. ISSN   0004-3079. JSTOR   3046079.
  6. ↑ "Why Did Men Thrust Their Right Hand into Their Jackets in Old Photographs?". Imponderable. Archived from the original on March 5, 2015. Retrieved March 20, 2015.
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