Miss Semple's 1817 Dutch dress
Traditional Dutch costumes

THE

Costume

OF THE

NETHERLANDS

Displayed in

THIRTY COLORED ENGRAVINGS
After Drawings from Nature By
Miss Semple

with Descriptions in

English and French

Seaside of the front page of 'The Costume of the Netherlands' by Miss Semple - Engraving reproduced and digitally restored by © Norbert Pousseur

London
Published March 1st 1817, at ACKERMANN'S Repository of Arts, 101 Strand.

W. Barlett Sclup.t

With the addition of pages for translation into Dutch,
for the drawings of Dutch people, by the website editor.

Miss Semple by Thomas Lawrence - reproduction reproduced on the web and colour-corrected by © Norbert Pousseur

Misse Semple by Thomas Lawrence
In a white dress with a belt and a red bow

Lady Frances Hamilton par Thomas Lawrence - reproduction reprise sur le web et corrigée numériquement par © Norbert Pousseur

Portrtait of Lady Frances Hamilton (1795-1860)
also by Thomas Lawrence.
A certain resemblance, but it is true that
many of the ladies painted by Th. Lawrence do look alike.
But the title 'Miss Semple' could be a pseudonym - by whom?

I tried to find out more about Miss Semple.

This portrait above, whose reproduction was found on the Web, probably represents her.
Indeed it was done by Thomas Lawrence (England, 1769-1830), who seems to be a contemporary of Miss Semple since his drawings were published in 1817.
(The original web version of this portrait has been reworked by me, with AI treatment of the face).

Another reference to this name is found in a piano score (Headings - Variations)
dedicated in 1818-1820 to Miss Semple by the composer James F. Hance.

We can therefore assume that at the time this young woman belonged to the artistic or literary circles of 'London's good society'.

His 'Dutch' portraits are in any case very lively and stand out for their authenticity, illustrations of the costumes and customs of the various peoples of the world, such as those published at the time.

The book is presented as containing costumes from the Netherlands. However, a good ten of the characters drawn come from Belgium or Northern France (Valenciennes). It must be said that at that time, Holland did not cover the borders as we know them in this twenty-first century.

On this site you will find 3 versions of this book: the one in French and English, as it originally existed (but on separate pages) plus the same translated into Dutch, to make it easier for Dutch people to find these traces of their past.

Here is the introduction to the book :

The following Drawings, being correct representations of the Costumes of the Netherlands, (each subject having been sketched from Nature) may be found interesting at this time when British valor has made that part of the continent familiar to the Public.

Here are the 30 drawings and pages that make up this book
For each thumbnail, the place where the live drawing was made is indicated.