Bib-Aprons in the 18th Century
Last updated: Jan 4, 2024
In English contexts, bib-aprons were a sign of youth; they were primarily worn by girls, but also appeared on maidservants. Grown women in Europe also wore bibbed aprons, but this seems to have been less common in England. However, there are examples of black silk aprons worn both in England and in Europe.
Bib-aprons on girls and young women
English literature seems to associate wearing a bib-apron with youth, as a symbol of girlhood:
- “We had ſeveral innocent ſtories that happen’d in bib and apron time; and I being a ſort of a wagg, adviſed the ladies to make haſt and marry, in order to ſupply their old maſter with a great many ſcholars.” Letters Sent to the Tatler and Spectator, 1725
- “I will hope, Madam, that you are above ſuch Weakneſſes, which a Miſs in her Bib and Apron might bluſh for.” The Virgin’s Nosegay, 1744
- “LORD what’s come to my Mother!
That ev’ry Day more than other,
My true Age ſhe would ſmother,
And ſays I'm not in my Teens.
Tho’ my Sampler I have ſown through,
My Bib and Apron outgrown too.”
Song 340 in The Thrush, 1749 - “And then to have the full pleaſure of mortifying Mrs. Conqueſt too, that's always holding her noſe over me, as if I was not fit to be out of my bib and apron.” The Lady’s Last Stake, 1780
- “Enter Jenny in a bib and apron, with a pricked ſong in one hand, and a large piece of bread and butter in the other … You — my mother will bring me a tall huge huſband home next week; and methinks I long for a tall huge huſband; and I am to leave off my bib and apron too.” The Boarding School, 1788
Following are examples of such aprons on girls and very young women:
- Colonial Williamsburg 1991-526, whitework apron with bib, made in England c. 1720
- Group portrait, probably of the Raikes family by Gawen Hamilton, c. 1730-1732
- The young schoolmistress by Chardin, c. 1735-1736
- Frances Rix, c. 1735-1737
- A school of girls, 1739
- Portrait of a young girl
- A young girl wearing a cap, seated half-length, in a chair
- Portrait of a little girl holding a floral garland
- Girl with racket and shuttlecock by Chardin, c. 1740
- The hard-working mother by Chardin, 1740
- Girl with racket and shuttlecock by Chardin, c. 1740
- The little schoolmistress by Chardin, after 1740
- Colonel Charles Ingram with His Children by Philippe Mercier, 1741
- Children in an interior by Arthur Devis, c. 1743
- Children at play by Joseph Francis Nollekens, 1745
- Children at play, probably the artist’s son Jacobus and daughter Maria Joanna Sophia by Joseph Francis Nollekens, 1745
- An unknown man with his daughter by Arthur Devis, c. 1746-1748
- Meriel Legh and Dorothea Byrne, c. 1750
- Portrait of a young girl, traditionally identified as Jane Brooke
- The Grymes Children, c. 1750-1755
- Young knitter asleep by Jean-Baptiste Greuze, c. 1759
- A young woman painting by Paul Sandby, c. 1760-1770
- Mr. and Mrs. Dalton and their niece Mary de Heulle by Johan Zoffany, c. 1765-1768
- Madame la présidente de Lamoignon et ses enfants by Louis Carrogis Carmontelle, 1766
- A young girl, standing by Paul Sandby, c. 1760-1780
- A girl and boy, standing by Paul Sandby, c. 1760-1780
- The young servant
- The reading lesson by Nicholas-Bernard Lépicié, c. 1774–1779
- A family group in a landscape by Francis Wheatley, c. 1775
- The Unwilling Bridegroom, or Forc’d Meat will never digest, 1778
- Palemon and Lavinia, 1782
- Embroidering girl by Jean-Étienne Liotard
- Madame Liotard and her daughter by Jean-Étienne Liotard
- Young girl singing into a mirror by Jean-Étienne Liotard
- The young dreamer by Jean-François Gilles Colson
- Portrait of a girl (said to be Miss Collingwood) by George Romney
- Annette de Fourqueux by Louis Carrogis Carmontelle
- The Benevolent Cottager
English maidservants wearing bibbed aprons
There is some indication that English maids wore bibs and aprons as well. Whether this is merely for practicality or likewise as a relative indication of youth is up for some debate. I have not found many specifically English examples of this yet. (Servants and other household workers also wear bibbed aprons elsewhere in Europe.)
- A City Shower by Edward Penny, c. 1764
- The Love Letter
- A laundress in Camp in Hyde Park, London, 1785
- “On the following day Eliza’s filthy rags were all taken off, and ſhe was dreſſed in a tidy brown ſtuff gown, a nice clean round-eared cap, and a little coloured bib and apron; and ſhe was ordered, if any perſon aſked her name, to ſay it was Biddy Bullen, and that ſhe was niece to the woman who employed her.” Tales of the hermitage, 1798
- Mrs Maltby by Isaac Robert Cruikshank
Bib-aprons on adult women elsewhere in Europe
The general sense that bibbed aprons were restricted to the very young seems to have been limited to England; other adult European women wore this style of apron more often.
These exist as finer aprons for wealthy women:
- MFA 43.1048, silk embroidered apron, France, late 17th century
- Cooper-Hewitt 1949-119-1, silk embroidered apron, France
- MFA 43.1036, silk taffeta embroidered apron, France, second half of the 18th century
- Madame Liotard and her daughter by Jean-Étienne Liotard
There are also extant cotton-print bib-aprons with floral patterns. These resemble the floral-patterned bib-aprons in other illustrations of working-class women, such as the maid in the Concert in an Interior or #15 & #21 in a collection of watercolors c. 1775.
- Nationalmuseum IN-8676, a cotton apron printed with a red pattern, c. 1740-1760
- Colonial Williamsburg 1952-67, floral block-printed cotton with the addition of pencil blue, probably France, c. 1770-1785; “The block printed fabric of this apron is of medium quality, and would have been affordable by women of the middling sorts. Aprons were not just for cleanliness and protection while working. Many eighteenth-century aprons were fashionable accessories, made of fine cotton or silk and decorated with needlework or printing. Because of its washable but decorative fabric, this apron probably was both accessory and protection. The bib was pinned in place to the wearer’s gown using straight pins, as safety pins were not invented until the nineteenth century.”
- Colonial Williamsburg 1971-1543, block-printed cotton, France, c. 1780. “Red and blue blockprinted cotton with two repeating chinoiserie scenes between wavy stripes with red branches intertwining.”
Bib-aprons also appear in illustrations and paintings of working-class women:
- Saying grace by Jozef van Aken, c. 1720
- The game of knucklebones by Chardin, 1734
- The embroiderer by Chardin, c. 1735-1736
- The polisher by André Bouys, 1737
- Servant in a kitchen with mackerel by André Bouys
- A cook preparing vegetables by André Bouys
- The Embroiderer by Chardin
- The Return from the Market by Chardin, 1738
- The governess by Chardin, 1739
- The knitter, attributed to André Bouys
- The hard-working mother by Chardin, 1740
- Grace by Chardin, 1740
- The Chocolate Girl by Jean-Etienne Liotard, c. 1744-1745
- Cries of Paris: Balayeuse (The Sweeper), 1746
- The attentive nurse by Chardin, 1747
- The vegetable-peeler
- Fishmongers by Jean Baptiste Charpentier
- The wool winder by Jean-Baptiste Greuze, c. 1759
- Madame la gouvernante Rousselet, de Wesel by Louis Carrogis Carmontelle, 1759
- Spring by Johann Christian Fiedler
- The Young Artist attributed to Joseph-Siffred Duplessis, 1760s
- Marie-Denise, de Marly la ville by Louis Carrogis Carmontelle, 1763
- Filial Piety by Jean-Baptiste Greuze, 1763
- A washerwoman by Louis Philippe Boitard, 1763
- Concert in an interior by Jan Josef Horemans, 1764
- La Malheureuse famille Calas by Louis Carrogis Carmontelle
- Summer by Johann Christian Fiedler
- The maid in the kitchen by Justus Juncker, before 1767
- A maid pouring soup by Pehr Hilleström, 1770s
- Fille d’Auberge (serving girl at an inn), 1774
- Several in the Cris de Paris, 1774-1775
- The reading lesson by Nicolas Bernard Lépicié, 1774-1779
- Servant girl plucking a chicken
- La Paysanne, Les Costumes François, 1776
- The old lady by Françoise Duparc, 1778
- La Marchande de Tisane by Françoise Duparc
- The reading lesson by Nicholas-Bernard Lépicié, c. 1774–1779
- A woman slaughtering hens by Pehr Hilleström, c. 1775
- Examples from an untitled album of watercolor paintings, c. 1775: 15, 19, 21, 33
- The bird-plucker by Pehr Hilleström, c. 1776
- Portrait of a woman, c. 1760-1790
- La marchande de tisane by Françoise Duparc, 1778
- La Vielle by Françoise Duparc, 1778
- The young embroiderer by Jean-Étienne Liotard
- A kitchen maid by Hugues Taraval, 1783
- Woman from La Rochelle, 1796
Black silk bib-aprons
Black silk aprons even appear on well-to-do girls and adult women, both in England and elsewhere in Europe. The Margaret Hunter Millinery Shop at Colonial Williamsburg re-created this style; see Useful Yet Elegant: Black Silk Aprons, c.1770. (Mara adjusts her hat shows another re-creation of this style.)
These are also referenced in Anna Green Winslow’s diary (January 4 & 17 in 1772) and in a letter that Alice Lee Shippen sent to her daughter Nancy on November 8, 1777.
- A girl knitting by Philippe Mercier (see also Domestick Employment: Knitting)
- Two fashionably dressed ladies by Paul Sandby, c. 1740-1765
- Marie Adélaïde de Marly by Louis Carrogis Carmontelle, 1759
- Mademoiselle Petit, femme de chambre by Louis Carrogis Carmontelle, 1759
- Madame d'Epinay et madame de Meaux “Ecoutez donc que je vous dise” by Louis Carrogis Carmontelle
- La marquise d'Equeville et ses filles, la bonne, et le marquis de joyeuse by Louis Carrogis Carmontelle
- Mademoiselle Lebrun by Louis Carrogis Carmontelle, 1760
- Lady Wallace by Paul Sandby, c. 1760-1770
- Lady Wallace by Paul Sandby, c. 1760-1770
- Spring by Johann Christian Fiedler
- Archduchess Marie Christine of Austria, c. 1765 (see also The Lovely Spinner and Domestick Amusement: The Lovely Spinner)
- Madame Herbert by Louis Carrogis Carmontelle, 1766
- Madame la comtesse d'Egmont Douairière by Louis Carrogis Carmontelle
- Madame d'Hérouville by Louis Carrogis Carmontelle
- Portrait of a lady in blue and black by Johann George Reus, 1769
- Lady Chambers by Paul Sandby, c. 1770-1780
- Lady Chambers by Paul Sandby, c. 1770-1780
- Portrait of a young woman by Marie-Geneviève Navarre, 1774
- Mr. & Mrs. Thomas Sandby by Paul Sandby