3-074-897 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Dressed for the Opera, by E. Tofano, exhibited in Mr. McLean's Gallery, Haymarket, 1883. 'The soft elegance of this high-bred beauty, depicted by E. Tofano in the work copied for our Engraving...has a peculiar charm; and her attire, in readiness to attend the Opera, with the tasteful head-dress of flowers, the folds of lace and muslin about her shoulders, and the light cloak, trimmed with swan's-down, gracefully draped around the figure, is perfectly becoming to such a person, as well as suitable to the occasion. She is evidently one of the princesses or youthful queens of fashionable society, whose presence is looked for at the most brilliant fetes, garden parties, receptions, soirees, and balls of the London season, and whose sole duty in life is to seem amiable, till a more serious engagement, that of matrimony, shall put to the test her capacity for the ruling of a household and the sharing of a husband's cares. In the meantime, such a fair creature, enjoying, apparently, the desired advantages of position and outward accomplishment, is an agreeable object to contemplate; and, when she takes her seat in the front circle, many eyes and glasses will be turned to gaze upon her'. From "Illustrated London News", 1883.