"Mrs. William Chinnery" by Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun

Mrs. William Chinnery (1803)
Copyright held by Indiana University Art Museum
Thanks to Kevin J. Kelly for the color version of this painting.

Mrs. Chinnery is wearing a long veil, a common headdress in the Regency period. Veils, sometimes called "nun's veils" evoked a sense of the Gothic, of Medieval Europe. Women dressed to feel like the heroines of Gothic novels set in these "Romantic" wild times of the past. This is an elaborately trimmed dress, likely an evening gown. It is worn with a tucker to cover some of the breast area exposed by the extremely low cut of the bodice.