The earliest Picnics occured after the Hunt in the 18C

Food historians tell us picnics evolved from the elaborate traditions of outdoor feasts enjoyed by the wealthy. Medieval hunting feasts & Renaissance-era country banquets probably were the earliest picnics.

1737 Carle or Charles-André van Loo (1705-1765) After the Hunt

"Picnic. Originally, A fashionable social entertainment in which each person present contributed a share of the provisions." The OED traces the oldest print evidence of the word picnic in the English language to 1748. The word was known in France, Germany, and Sweden prior to becoming an English institution. 
---Oxford English Dictionary [Clarendon Press:Oxford], 2nd edition, Volume XI (p. 779)

1738 Carle or Charles-André van Loo (1705-1765) The Picnic after the Hunt

"The earliest picnics in England were medieval hunting feasts. Hunting conventions were established in the 14C, and the feast before the chase assumed a special importance. Gaston de Foiz, in a work entitled Le Livre de chasse (1387), gives a detailed description of such an event in France. As social habits in 14C England were similar to those in medieval France, it is safe to assume that picnics were more or less the same."  
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 602)

 1737 Nicolas Lancret (1690-1743)  The Hunting Party Meal

"The French might have invented the word "picnic," pique nique being found earlier than "pic nic." It originally referred to a dinner, usually eaten indoors, to which everyone present had contributed some food, and possible also a fee to attend. The ancient Greek "eranos," the French "moungetade" described earlier, or modern "pot luck" suppers are versions of this type of mealtime organization. ...Picnics derive, also, from the decorous yet comparatively informal 16C "banquets"...whichh frequently took place out of doors."
---The Rituals of Dinner: The Origins, Evolutions, Eccentricities and Meaning of Table Manners, Margaret Visser [Penguin:New York] 1991 (p. 150-1)

1740 Nicolas Lancret (1690-1743) Picnic after the hunt

"Picnic. An informal meal in which everyone pays his share or brings his own dish,' according to the Littre dictionary. That was probably the original meaning of the word, which is probably of French origin (the French piquer means to pick at food; nique means something small of no value.) The word was accepted by the Academie francaise in 1740 and thereafter became a universally accepted word in many languages. From the informal picnic, the outdoor feast developed...Weekend shooting parties and sporting events were occasions for grand picnics, with extensive menus and elaborate presentation."
---Larousse Gastronomique, completely updated and revised edition [Clarkson Potter:New York] 2001 (p. 883)

Bastille Day 1890 by van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh (Dutch artist, 1853-1890) is Auvers Town Hall 14 July 1890

"Women Artist" Painting Flowers as Symbols - Clara Peeters 1594-1657

Clara Peeters (Flemish painter, 1594-c 1657)

Clara Peeters (1594-c 1657) was not painting portraits as were most women painters born in the 1400-1500s.  Peeters is the best-known female Flemish artist of this era and one of the few women artists working professionally in 17C Europe, despite restrictions on women's access to artistic training and membership in guilds. Peeters was among the earliest specialist painters of still lifes and flowers, working while this genre was still emerging. Fewer than ten paintings of flowers produced in the Netherlands can be dated before 1608, when she painted her first recorded work.

Clara Peeters (Flemish painter, 1594-c 1657)

She was baptized in Antwerp in 1594, & married there in 1639. Her earliest dated paintings, from 1607-1608, are small, detailed images representing food & drink. At the time that Clara Peeters was painting, religious imagery was forbidden in the Dutch Reformed Protestant Church.  Artistic symbols  were developed to make coded references to life, death, & religion, so her paintings conveyed a meaning to her patrons of much more than objects in a still life. Each painting would be a visual puzzle to be decoded by the viewer.  

Clara Peeters (Flemish painter, 1594-c 1657)

Some speculate that the skill with which this teenage artist executed her painting suggests that she may have been trained by a master painter. Although there is no documentary evidence of her education, some scholars theorize that Peeters may have been a student of Osias Beert, a still-life painter from Antwerp.  By 1612, the 18-year-old artist was producing large numbers of painstakingly rendered still lifes displaying symbols in groupings of metal goblets, gold coins, & exotic flowers.

Clara Peeters (Flemish painter, 1594-c 1657)

Clara Peeters (Flemish painter, 1594-c 1657)

1935 Picnic in California

1935 Picnic in California

1910-1925 American Picnic

1910-1925 American Picnic. Photo by John Johnson. Johnson was born in Lincoln in 1879 to Harrison Johnson, an escaped slave and Civil War veteran, & his wife, Margaret. After graduating from high school & briefly attending the University of Nebraska (where he played football), Johnson found work in one of the few realms open to African-Americans at the time: manual labor. He was a janitor & a drayman, but also a very prolific & talented community photographer. From roughly 1910 to 1925, he took as many as 500 photographs using a bulky view camera and flash powder.

1920 Picnic in North Carolina

1920 Picnic in North Carolina

1915 Picnic in Seattle, Washington

1915 Picnic in driftwood at beach below Magnolia Bluff, Seattle, Washington

1894 Maine Picnic

1894 An outing in the Maine woods

1871 The Glorious Fourth - Sending up the Fire Balloon

1871 The Glorious Fourth - Sending up the Fire Balloon. Harper's Weekly

1720s-30s English houses & landscapes by Peter Tillemans (1684–1734)

Peter Tillemans (Flemish artist, 1684–1734) A View of the Garden and Main Parterre of Winchendon House, Buckinghamshire, from the East, with Figures in the Foreground

Peter Tillemans (c. 1684-1734) was a Flemish painter, best known for his works on sporting & topographical subjects. Tillemans was born in Antwerp, the son of a diamond-cutter, & studied painting there.  He was brother-in-law to fellow artist Peter Casteels (1684-1749); & in 1708 the two young men were brought over to England by a dealer named Turner to copy Old Master paintings.  By 1711, he had joined Godfrey Kneller's (1646-1723) new Great Queen Street Academy of painting as a founding member, where Tillemans declared his speciality as 'landskip'.  He later joined the Society of St Luke (and was its Steward, 1725). Tillemans lived chiefly in Westminster, but traveled to execute commissions.  

Peter Tillemans (Flemish artist, 1684-1734) Newstead Abbey, Nottinghamshire, West Aspect 1730

By 1715, he had acquired his most faithful patron, Dr Cox Macro of Suffolk. In his country landscapes with gardens paintings, the houses often stand in a countryside brought to life by animals & hunting scenes.  He was employed with Joseph Goupy to paint a series of scenes for the opera-house in the Haymarket. In 1719, he was commissioned by John Bridges (1666-1724) to make about 500 drawings for the History of Northamptonshire.   These drawings were all executed in Indian ink, for which Bridges gave him a guinea a day & the run of his house.  Tillemans resided for some years at Richmond in Surrey, where is brother-in-law lived.  He also stayed at the home of his patron Dr. Cox Macro of Norton Haugh in Suffolk, where he died on 5 Dec. 1734.

Peter Tillemans (Flemish artist, 1684–1734) London from Greenwich Park

Peter Tillemans (Flemish artist, 1684–1734) Panoramic view of Chatsworth House and Park

Peter Tillemans (Flemish artist, 1684–1734) Prospect Of Ashburnham Place Sussex

Peter Tillemans (Flemish artist, 1684–1734) The View from One-Tree Hill in Greenwich Park

Peter Tillemans (Flemish artist, 1684–1734) View of Chatsworth House and Park

Peter Tillemans (Flemish artist, 1684-1734) Idealized View of Chirk Castle

  Peter Tillemans (Flemish artist, 1684–1734) A View of Uppark

Peter Tillemans (Flemish artist, 1684–1734) East View of Newsterad Abbey, Nottinghamshire

Peter Tillemans (Flemish artist, 1684–1734) A View of the Downs near Uppark including a view of the riding hill summerhouse

Peter Tillemans (Flemish artist, 1684–1734) Little Haugh Hall, Suffolk

  Peter Tillemans (Flemish artist, 1684–1734) River Thames

Peter Tillemans (Flemish artist, 1684–1734) View of Knowsley Park from the Riding Hill Summer House, looking towards Prescot Detail

1738 Unusual Gardens flanking the courtyard of this hunting-lodge castle

Charles Leopold van Grevenbroeck (c 1731-1799)  Arrival of King Louis XV (1723–1774) at La Muette Castle in 1738. Detai

The castle was built by Charles IX (1550-1574), who was obsessed with hounds & hunting & wrote a book on the sport called La Chasse Royal, which was published in 1625, long after his death. Charles IX would reside at the castle for the full hunting season. 

Charles IX around 1572, painted by François Clouet.

Families In Gardens & Parks by Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788)

 Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788) Mr and Mrs Carter, c.1747–8

Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788) Conversation in a Park - Self Portrait with his wife Margaret 1746

 Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788)  Mr. and Mrs. Andrews 1749

Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788) Lady Lloyd & her son Richard 1746

Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788) Sarah Kirby and John Joshua Kirby c1751-1752

 Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788) Unknown Couple

Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788) The John Gravenor Family 1754

Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788)  Self-portrait with his wife and daughter, 1748

Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788) Heneage Lloyd & his sister Lucy

1500s The Ladies get equal time with The Nine Male Worthies

The Nine Worthies are 9 historical, scriptural, & legendary males who personify the ideals of chivalry as were established in the Middle Ages. They usually included 3 good pagans: Hector, Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar; 3 good Jews: Joshua, David and Judas Maccabeus; and 3 good Christians: King Arthur, Charlemagne and Godfrey of Bouillon.  They were 1st described in the early 14C, by Jacques de Longuyon in his Voeux du Paon (1312).  Here George Glover seems to concoct his own version of Lady Worthies.  By the late 14C, Lady Worthies began to accompany the Nine Worthies, although their identities often changed.

 George Glover c 1630 The Nine Woeman Worthys  Margaret wife to Henry the sixt

 George Glover c 1630 The Nine Woeman Worthys Artimetia

 George Glover c 1630 The Nine Woeman Worthys Bonditia

 George Glover c 1630 The Nine Woeman Worthys Debora

 George Glover c 1630 The Nine Woeman Worthys Hester

 George Glover c 1630 The Nine Woeman Worthys Judeth

 George Glover c 1630 The Nine Woeman Worthys Penthisilaea

 George Glover c 1630 The Nine Woeman Worthys Queen Elizabeth

George Glover c 1630 The Nine Woeman Worthys Zenobia

17C Woman - The Good Works of a Wealthy Widow

We have few depictions of women in the 17C British American colonies, but contemporary European prints allow us to see the hairstyles & fashions being worn on the other side of the Atlantic during the early years of the English colonization of America. 

Lady Lettice, Viscountess Falkland, née Moryson (1610-46) Engraving, frontispiece to John Duncon, The Returnes of Spiritual Comfort and Grief (London, 1648)  This is a shrouded, posthumous portrait of Lady Lettice, who was wife of Lucius Cary, 2nd Viscount Falkland (c.1610-43). Cary was famous as an author & cultivator of the arts; he drew a circle of writers around him at Great Tew, including Ben Jonson & Abraham Cowley. He died for the royalist cause at the First Battle of Newbury during the English Civil War.

This excellent lady was daughter of Sir Richard Morison, of Tooley Park, in Leicestershire, knt. & relict of the celebrated Lucius Cary, viscount Falkland, who was killed in the first battle of Newbury. When that great & amiable man was no more, she fixed her eyes on heaven; & though sunk in the deepest affliction, she soon found that relief from acts of piety & devotion, which nothing else could have administered. After the tumults of her grief had subsided, & her mind was restored to its former tranquillity, she began to experience that happiness which all are strangers to but the truly religious. She was constant in the public & private exercises of devotion, spent much of her time in family prayer, in singing psalms, & catechising her children & domestics. She frequently visited her poor neighbours, especially in their sickness, & would sometimes condescend to read religious books to them, while they were employed in spinning. She distributed a great number of pious tracts. Lord Falkland left her all that he was possessed of by will, & committed his 3 sons, the only children he had, to her care. Ob. Feb. 1646, 2Et. circ. 35.
James Granger. A Biographical History of England: From Egbert the Great to the Revolution. 1769

17C Woman - Jean Leblond 1605-1666 - Marie de Médicis

We have few depictions of women in the 17C British American colonies, but contemporary European prints allow us to see the hairstyles & fashions being worn on the other side of the Atlantic during the early years of the English colonization of America. 

Jean Leblond 1605-1666 Marie de Médicis Royne de France et de Navarre; print; Anthony van Dyck (After)

17C Woman + 1675 Advice on the Duty of a Wife to her husband

We have few depictions of women in the 17C British American colonies, but contemporary European prints allow us to see the hairstyles & fashions being worn on the other side of the Atlantic during the early years of the English colonization of America. 

Jean Leblond 1605-1666 L'Ysabelle;  François Ragot (Print made by); Young woman, half-length, turned to right; lace headdress, large collar trimmed with lace, and dark dress with light-coloured, striped sleeves



Hannah Woolley. The Gentlewoman's Companion: or, A Guide to the Female Sex. London, A Maxwell for Edward Thomas, Bookseller. 1675.

Of Marriage, and the duty of a Wife to her Husband.

Marriage is an holy and inviolable bond; if the choice on both sides be good and well- ordered, there is nothing in the World that is more beautiful, more comfortable. It is a sweet Society, full of trust and loyalty. It is a fellowship, not of hot distempered love, but endeared affection; for these two are as different as the inflamed fit of an high Feaver, from the natural heat of a sound and healthy body. Love in the first acceptation is a distemper, and no wonder then that Marriage succeed so ill, which have their original from such disordered amorous desires. This boiling affection is seldom worth any thing.

There are these two Essentials in Marriage, Superiority and Inferiority. Undoubtedly the Husband hath power over the Wife, and the Wife ought to be subject to the Husband in all things. Although the Wife be more noble in her extraction, and more wealthy in portion, yet being once Married is inferior to her Husband in condition. Man, of human-kind, wa Gods first workmanship; Woman was made after Man, and of the same substance, to be subservient and assisting to him...

The more particular duties of a Wife to an Husband, are first, to have a greater esteem for him than for any other person...That Woman that will entertain mean and low thoughts of her Husband, will be easily induced to love another, whom she ought not to affect. On this good esteem depends a great part of the Wives obedience, who will be apt to run into extravagancies when she is once possessed of the weakness of her Husbands understanding: She is to give honour, respect, and reverence to her Husband; so have the wisest ever done, and those which do it not, betray their indiscretion; with reverence she is to express her obedience in all lawful things; and apply and accommodate her self (as much as in her lies) to his humour and disposition.

You must be mindful of what you promised your Husband in Marriage; and the best demonstration thereof will be in your carriage; honour and obey, and love no mans company better than his.

Be quiet, pleasant, and peaceable with him, and be not angry, when he is so; but endeavour to pacifie him with sweet and winning expressions & if casually you should provoke him to a passion, be not long ere you shew some regret, which may argue how much you are displeased with your self for so doing; nay bear his anger patiently, though without a cause.

Be careful to keep your house in good order, and let all things with decency be in readiness when he comes to his repast; let him not wait for his meals, lest by so staying his affairs be disorder'd or impeded. And let what-ever you provide be so neatly and cleanly drest, that his fare, though ordinary, may engage his appetite, and disingage his fancy from Taverns, which many are compell'd to make use of by reason of the continual and daily dissatisfactions they find at home.

Shew respect and kindness to what Friends he brings home with him, but more especially to his Relations for by this means he will find your love to him by your respect to them; and they will be obliged to love you for your own as well s his sake.

Suffer not any to buz in your ears detracting stories of him, and abhor it in your Servants, for it is your duty to hide his faults and infirmities, and not detect them your self, or suffer them to be discovered. Take them for your greatest enemies who perswade you against your Husband; for without question they have some dangerous design in it. Those whom God hath joined together, let no man put asunder; Cursed then is that instrument which occasions their separation.

Breed up your Children in as much or more obedience to him than your self; and keep them in so much awe that they shew no rudeness before him, or make any noise to his disturbance. Make them shew him all awful regard, and kee them sweet, clean, and decent, that he may delight himself in them.

Let him see your love to him in your care for them; educating and bringing them up in the knowledg of Religion, with their Learning.

Be careful to manage what money he doth trust youwith, to his and your own credit: abuse not the freedom you have of his purse, by being too lavish; and pinch not the Guts of your Family at home, that you may pamper your abroad; or throw away that money in buying trifles, which shall evidence your vanity as well as luxury.

To govern an House is an excellent and profitable employment; there Is nothing more beautiful than an Houshold well and peaceably governed; it is a prosession that is not difficult; for she that is not capable of any thing else, may be capable of this.

The principal precepts that belong to the frugal ordering and disposing Houshold-affairs may be compremis'd under these heads.

First to buy and sell all things at the best times and seasons.

Secondly, to take an especial care that the goods in the house be not spoiled by negligence of servants or otherwise.

Let me counsel you not only to avoid unnecessary or immoderate charges, but also with a little cost make a great shew; but above all suffer not your expence to exceed the receipt of your Husbands income. There is a Proverbial saying, That the Masters eye maketh the Horse fat; I am sure the active vigilance of a good and careful Wife is the ready way to enrich a bad Husband.

.