Style Imitating Art | “Going to Market” by Constant Troyon

About Style Imitating Art

Style Imitating Art is hosted by Salazar of 14 Shades of Grey, Shelbee of Shelbee on the Edge, and Marsha of Marsha in the Middle. Style Imitating Art challenges us to draw style inspiration from pieces of art. Every other Monday, one of the hosts, acting as presenter, selects an inspiration image that they will each post on their blogs. The following Monday, each host shares her art inspired outfit. Participants are invited to submit their art inspired outfits to the presenter by 10:00 p.m. EST on the Tuesday following the hosts’ art inspired outfit posts. The following day, Wednesday, the presenter will share all of the submissions on her blog.

You don’t have to be a blogger to join either! In fact, you don’t even have to join but you can still use the art to inspire an outfit just for the sake of trying something different. If you want to share your inspired outfit, we invite you do so on Instagram or any other social media platform that you prefer. Just be sure to tag Salazar, Shelbee, or Marsha or use #TeamLOTSStyle and #StyleImitatingArt so the hosts know you have joined. Go have some fun in your closets and join the SIA challenge next week!

This Week’s Presenter

Marsha chose this week’s art inspiration and has purposefully selected a black and white image in order to free everyone from the confines of a specific color scheme. You can stick with the black, white, and gray palette of the artwork or you can reimagine this piece in color and work from that perspective. Anything goes but ultimately I went with the predictable approach of a black and white outfit.

The Artwork

“Going to Market” by Constant Troyon

About the Artist: Constant Troyon

Constant Troyon was a French painter who was born on August 28, 1810, in Sèvres, France, near Paris where his father was involved in porcelain manufacturing. At a very young age, Constant began working as a decorator in porcelain ornamentation. By the time he was 20, he had mastered this kind of work so thoroughly that it would take years for him to break out of its limitations. However, by 21 years old, he was traveling around France as a landscape artist as long as his finances would last. Once he ran out of funds, Troyon befriended the first china manufacturer that he met and worked as a decorator once again until he had earned enough money to continue his artistic travels.

Troyon was a member of the Barbizon School of painters who were part of a movement towards Realism in art. In 1846, Troyon he visited the Netherlands which would end up being a pivotal trip in his career as an artist. While there, he studied many masterpieces from which evolved a new method of painting for him. Troyon’s works produced after this trip are where his true individuality as an artist can be seen. In these later works, he became conscious of his extraordinary skill as an animal painter and his success increased rapidly as he was soon recognized as a painter of masterpieces in Europe and the United States.

Despite his success and positive reception of his work on two continents, it seems that Constant was a bit of a curmudgeonly creature. He never quite believed in himself or his talents and he was a chronic complainer about how the world had mistreated him. He died in Paris at the age of 54 on February 21, 1865, unmarried and alone.

About the Art: “Going to Market”

“Going to Market” is an oil painting on canvas created in 1860. It measures 16 1/8 x 12 7/8 inches (41 x 32.7 cm) and features the image of a woman riding to market on a donkey with her sheep and dog escorting her down the lane.

This painting is one of  several different variations of Troyon’s Departure for the Market and was presumably commissioned by a private collector for their home. In a letter to Mrs. Henry Hornblower from Isaac D. Fletcher dated May 1, 1899, Mr. Fletcher describes the painting as depicting “a sheperdhess seated on a donkey taking the sheep to pasture”.

The original work is now part of the “The Mr. and Mrs. Isaac D. Fletcher Collection” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art but is currently not on view.

References/Resources

• Constant Troyon: Wikipedia
• Going to Market: The Met

About My Outfit

I was fairly predictable and straightforward with my interpretation of this painting, sticking with a black, white, and gray color palette. My long black cotton sundress reminds me of the style of dresses women wore in the 1860s so I started there. This is a wonderful lightweight cotton dress for the warm summer months. I also have it in white and blue and I find myself reaching for them often when the humidity spikes.

Next I added a long ivory kimono robe with silvery gray sequins to mimic the flowiness of the woman’s dress as it drapes down over the donkey’s back. My black cowgirl boots seemed like the appropriate footwear to represent this painting. If I were to ride a donkey to market wearing a long dress, I would definitely wear cowgirl boots. While that poor girl might have appropriate footwear, she is probably so uncomfortable riding side saddle in those volumes and layers of skirts and such.

My white cloche hat is a nod to the woman’s bonnet. Although it has a bit of purple shading on the hat, it is muted enough that it can appear gray in certain light. To stay with the black, white, and gray color palette, I accessorized with black, silver, and pearl jewelry. Finally, I added a black belt bag with pearls because where else does a woman carry her important things while riding side saddle in a dress on a donkey?

In the end, I did not like the way the belt bag looked but the rest of the outfit suited me just fine. In fact, I styled a really similar outfit four years ago that would have worked for this art challenge in cooler weather.

I hope you have enjoyed my interpretation of this painting and feel inspired to play along! Be sure to check out Marsha’s interpretation of the artwork as well as Salazar’s take on it.

If you want to participate in this challenge and create your own outfit inspired by Constant Troyon’s oil painting, “Going to Market”, please submit your photos to Marsha (mlrbanks57@gmail.com) by 10:00 p.m. EST on Tuesday, July 16, 2024, and she will feature your outfit in her style gallery on Wednesday, July 17, 2024.

Until then, happy styling! 

Keeping it on the edge, 

Shelbee

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