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00:00portrait of Dido and Elizabeth is the fact that it's so unusual to see a
00:06picture from this time that depicts a black subject and a white subject with
00:10equal status. There's something about Dido that I find incredibly human and
00:16really compelling and I also think that from the tiny amount I know about her
00:21backstory already that it's going to lead us into some much darker areas in
00:28the history of fashion and I'm really keen to confront those areas and to
00:33explore them further. From what can be seen Dido's dress appears both elegant and
00:39simple but I'm interested to find out from Ninya what type of gown it may be.
00:43This portrait dress-wise a little bit of an enigma isn't it? It is. It is quite
00:50difficult to work out exactly what she's wearing. What are your thoughts here?
00:56There are so many possibilities with how we could interpret that garment.
01:01Unfortunately like so many portraits we can't see her back and it's particularly
01:06obscured by all these kind of layers of sashes and things in exactly the places
01:12where we would look for clues as to how it's constructed. And this sort of basket
01:16of fruits that she's carrying as well. Yeah. Do we have any other portraits that we
01:22can sort of compare in terms of types of garment that we think she might be wearing?
01:26Yeah there are actually helpfully lots of paintings of 18th century women wearing
01:30these more relaxed exotic styles and helpfully they're not all holding
01:35something in front of them like Dido is. Great. So this lady here for example you can
01:40see how very loose and cut this gown is. It's a simple crossover and I do think that
01:46the neckline that Dido's got there with this V shape can only be achieved in the
01:5018th century really by having a crossover wrapping front. This is very very similar
01:56isn't it? Yeah I think that's a real strong contender for how the front would
01:59would look if we could if we could see it. Now some of the reading I've been doing
02:03about this portrait describes it as silver and it's my understanding that at
02:08this time silver was quite a popular colour for wedding dresses. Wedding dresses
02:12would have been a bit more formal than this. What kind of fabric do you think this is?
02:18Well I don't believe it is silver. I've got a sample here of some silk that has silver
02:23thread woven into it and it doesn't drape in the same way that I think the fabric Dido is
02:30wearing drapes. It's quite stiff because the only way to incorporate silver into a silk fabric in the
02:3718th century was to weave actual threads of silver so it's it's metal. Right. And although it's a soft
02:42metal it still changes the nature of the fabric. Yeah. And I think this is too stiff for what we
02:49want to achieve with Dido. Yeah. It almost stays into the shape that you fold it. It does. It's lovely,
02:56it's beautiful and it would make a lovely formal wedding dress but that's not what we're doing.
02:59So what I think we should be looking at is satin. A silk satin is really a very very typical
03:06choice
03:07for these kinds of uh informal robe and wrapping gown and a la Turk styles. Yeah. Um I think we
03:15definitely want a satin that's a you know very cool kind of ivory possibly or even a light grey
03:21um which could be interpreted as silver but not actual silver. We have very little information with
03:28which to piece together Dido's story but what we do know is that she was born in 1761 the illegitimate
03:36daughter of Captain John Lindsay and Maria Bell an enslaved African woman on a Spanish ship captured
03:43by Lindsay. At some point in her infancy Dido was sent to live with her father's uncle Lord Mansfield
03:50Britain's Lord Chief Justice and one of the most powerful men of his day. I'm keen to find out if
03:56the
03:56portrait can unwrap any secrets of Dido's life. So I'm meeting art historian Vicky Coltman at Schoon
04:02Palace, Lord Mansfield's birthplace where the painting now hangs. Now I've completely fallen in
04:08love with this portrait um but I'm very interested to hear you contextualise this for me. How unusual is
04:16this for a late 18th century portrait? Well in terms of later 18th century British art history this is a
04:23really atypical image mainly because we have these two women one with a black complexion one with a
04:31white complexion presented more or less as social equals and it's extremely rare to find that on
04:38canvas because what we're dealing with in this period is a long pictorial tradition of black servant
04:46portraiture in which they're shown as very much subservient to their female mistresses and what we see
04:52here is an image from that mid 17th century period which is absolutely typical. We have here this black
05:00servant on the right also notice how he's looking up towards the female sitter and really he's there
05:08to say to you and I the external viewers direct your gaze to her so he becomes a kind of
05:15interlocutor
05:16for her beauty. And so if we then leap forward over a hundred years what we can see immediately
05:24is how there's none of that subservience. I think this is a image that speaks of things like sisterhood,
05:33companionship. One theory is that Dido has maybe been dressed in clothes that aren't her own
05:39fashion to highlight some kind of exoticism. Do you think that could be the case?
05:46So Dido's dress so what people have made of this and you're quite right is they've looked at the turban
05:53and they've suggested that her dress may be indebted to the idea of masquerades which are very popular at
06:00this time which are kind of fancy dress parties. I'm not so sure but what we can say is that
06:06it looks to me
06:07to be very shiny and glimmery for a day dress so I think it's unlikely that she's going to be
06:13in the
06:14poultry yard or the dairy wearing this dress. I personally am slightly skeptical of the sort of over
06:22exoticized readings of this portrait. A lot has been made of the turban. The turban was very fashionable
06:30headgear at the time I think and definitely due to it being a sort of slightly exotic object but I
06:38think
06:38that that doesn't necessarily confer on Dido this kind of exotic objectified status and that would also
06:45fit in with the style of dress from what we can work out from the actual portrait itself and the
06:51fact that
06:51it's more dynamic she's not wearing any kind of panniers or hoops under her skirts in the way that
06:58Elizabeth is. I find Dido as a subject much more compelling she looks like the one who's fun the
07:05one who I want to hang out with the one that I want to spend time with. I absolutely agree
07:09I think Dido
07:10looks incredibly mischievous actually I'd much rather hang out with Dido. While I'm finding out about Dido's
07:18life Ninya is trying to discover more about the style of her dress. What's really frustrating about Dido
07:25is that her bowl of fruit and her sashes and her arm are all exactly in the crucial area in
07:30the point
07:31that would really tell us what's going on with that because the other possibility that you were
07:36playing with was it this one or the no this oh the back yes was it the back might be
07:40cut as a loose
07:41yes to give it a bit more fullness below and also because that's a fashionable element yeah you know
07:48why I don't think it can be a sackback I've just thought of this is that the way that the
07:52this top
07:53edge of the of the pleats is covered up in the 18th century is with a an extra strip which
07:59then
08:00goes down here and it's the robing isn't it and it's a classic doesn't have it look and it doesn't
08:06it doesn't fit with anything else in the cut of that that twirl so yeah I was uncomfortable about
08:11that thank you the other um possibility is that something like yeah this jacket that's very simple
08:19isn't it and actually quite loose if you imagine that as full length and and this gusset here
08:24expanding out well I kind of had that thought too and I like that I did put that back onto
08:30this one
08:30oh that's that one yes it hasn't worked for me look oh it's it's kind of it's it's nice the
08:36back is
08:37nice and the seams are nice but it the way it hangs down now it's neither one thing nor another
08:42that
08:43so um yeah it doesn't work for me that garment is not a classic western garment like her cousin is
08:51wearing it is different and I think that's the point then they're making her different so we don't
08:58know whether she had that herself or whether it was part of the the painters clothing we don't know
09:04anything about it sadly do we we don't know the story that led up to the painting and what her
09:10thoughts
09:10were and we assume she was put into that to make a contrast but she might have chosen it what's
09:18this
09:18what this one that is a bed gown do you think that's a possibility it is I think you're going
09:25to have to do another 12
09:31well we have the new 12 what I really like is this all in one yes sleeve I think it's
09:38just the most
09:39convincing yeah and hers isn't actually huge some of them are very big but hers is not probably make
09:44that a little bit smaller smaller and that definitely that's really snug on her isn't
09:49it with it yes and it really run calls down it must have a little button or something there I
09:54think
09:57yeah three twiles lucky oh thank goodness
10:02raised by the mansfields alongside her cousin lady elizabeth dido grew up in luxury at kenwood house a
10:09world away from the experiences of most black people in england at the time s.i martin is an
10:15expert on black british history and i'm hoping he can tell me more about dido's life at kenwood
10:21this is you know a far cry from the way that most people in georgian britain would have grown up
10:27but
10:27i would imagine that for a black woman it's especially unusual there was something very particular about
10:33dido's situation though it wasn't unique there were other black people particularly people of mixed
10:38background who had similar to dido's own parentage one white male father and usually a black enslaved
10:46mother who were lucky enough to enjoy some degree of the luxuries that dido would have enjoyed but
10:52it's true to say that her experiences overall were very different from the vast majority of black people
10:57living in britain at the time and she worked um within the grounds as well didn't she at the at
11:03the
11:04home was that usual yeah work of the sort that dido was engaged in um low-level household duties looking
11:11after the dairy uh working with nord mansfield note-taking light accounts these would be the
11:17occupations of a gentlewoman of the period and perhaps dido considered herself as such but they
11:22wouldn't have been the duties with which um the lady of the house would have bothered herself and i doubt
11:27very much if lady elizabeth would have had anything to do in those domains at all one interesting uh
11:34feature of um the likeness of dido in the painting is that she is wearing um both a turban and
11:42an
11:42ostrich feather yeah and although at the time the wearing of turbans had become quite fashionable
11:48among some parts of the upper classes it's also a signifier uh for a lot of young black people in
11:55domestic service so dido's life here at kenwood her family the relationships that they had she was
12:01clearly cared for although we know that she was formed on and that she was a great favorite and
12:09confidant um of lord mansfield dido is illegitimate she did not always dine with her blood relations as
12:19they were she is um definitely outside family this would have been a very difficult issue just to
12:26negotiate socially and culturally to meet others outside the family even within the family it would
12:32have caused problems and that would have set her apart i'm starting to get more of a sense of dido's
12:38world but i feel that many of the details of her life is still hidden last time i saw ninja
12:44details of
12:44the dress were proving equally elusive so i'm looking forward to finding out what decisions have
12:49been made this is the pattern it's a very common style amongst various um ethnic garments across the
12:57world it's it's the idea that you want to use as much of the material as possible have no wastage
13:02at
13:02all because materials are very expensive and time consuming to make and it's making the most of the
13:07materials as you cut so planning ahead so if you look at this this is um the neck it's going
13:16to come
13:16out of there yeah this is the sleeve and this is the body great and this piece that we cut
13:22out of there
13:23to make the sleeve fits very cunningly down here that's clever isn't it yeah to increase the size of
13:31the skirt i see the joy of it is because it's such a simple cut all the beauty is going
13:37to come from
13:37from the material itself and it is so beautiful this it is wonderful excellent i cannot wait to see it
13:44wow so you can see how you could interpret that as silver yeah and it's not it's just pure silk
13:50but
13:51it does look silvery yeah doesn't it it really does it's a very pale grey but it's it's pure silk
13:58and
13:58there's no actual metal thread in it so it's going to be ever so soft and drapey and gorgeous yeah
14:04it's just absolutely beautiful when it has wonderful depth yeah it really does it really does
14:11so this is looking very exciting yes i've done about six versions of this now but using muslin rather
14:20than the real silks so here i'm just um doing the draping of this line here so would you like
14:28to
14:28have a go at trying to emulate that yeah there so you'd love to you want to pull this back
14:33on itself
14:34like that okay so and then will it all be pinned how's it going to be sort of secured once
14:43we've played
14:44around with it and draped it happily then i'll sew it so that you can't see the stitching i see
14:51right
14:51right which will also be helped with disguising it because of the jewels on her turban yeah and so
14:57if there are any stitches that can't be helped but to be seen then they'll be covered with jewels right
15:04so oh that looks fab i love those pleats so i'll just pin it a bit here so that um
15:11doesn't move
15:13now my instinct is to try to make it a bit more elaborate and use this to create some kind
15:20of
15:20like fan shape at the side or at the back but that wouldn't be quite accurate would it no this
15:26is quite
15:26a subtle little addition i think you don't always need so much accessorizing to i have to disagree
15:34i must say so will this all form the lining will we be tucking this in on itself to create
15:41the lining
15:42and then once it's all pinned i'll sew around the outside um so it'll be like a proper brim
15:50yeah this is fun this this bit you can see immediate returns yeah doing this it's quite satisfying
15:58i think that's rightly pinned so we'll just put it on there look at that lovely happy with that yeah
16:09very little written evidence of dido's life exists but she does appear in the household account book
16:14still held at kenwood house and i've been given special permission to see them well i'm here in the
16:21glorious surroundings this amazing neoclassical room which is the library that dido would have
16:28spent quite a lot of time in what i've got here is some of the household accounts and so in
16:33here we
16:34do get some very small glimpses of dido's life dido quarter allowance due october the 4th five pounds
16:42so she was given 20 pounds a year paid in quarterly installments towards the end of the 1780s dido's
16:51allowance was also supplemented by birthday gifts and christmas gifts as well
16:57we can see one here to dido at christmas and by lord mansfield's order now this one is probably my
17:06all-time favorite washing and glazing dido's bed now what that tells us is that likely her bed was
17:15decorated with chintz hangings now chintz was glazed fabric and was very very fashionable at this time as
17:22well so it does give us a sort of insight into dido's world into dido's life here while the account
17:30books give us a tantalizing peek into dido's home life we get a more tangible insight from the diary
17:36of thomas hutchinson an american visitor to lord mansfield a black came in after dinner and sat with
17:44the ladies and after coffee walked with the company in the gardens one of the young ladies having her
17:50arm within the other she is neither handsome nor genteel heard enough he calls her dido which i
17:58suppose is all the name she has he knows he has been reproached for showing fondness for her
18:03i dare say not criminal hutchinson's attitude highlights dido's position perfectly
18:10she was well loved by her family but as the daughter of a slave in 18th century england
18:15she was never going to be accepted as their social equal the fact is that when this portrait was
18:21painted britain's participation in the slave trade was at its height by the 18th century demand for
18:29english cotton was booming easily washable and colorful it was becoming the fashion fabric of
18:34choice for the middle classes and a valuable trading commodity driving the industrial revolution
18:40however the great wealth this brought the nation was built upon enslaved labor in britain's colonies
18:49to find out more i meet some historian alan rice so how important to the cotton industry around here
18:58was slave produced cotton from america well the 1780s and 1790s slave produced cotton started exploding
19:07onto the scene here so a town like manchester and its environs becomes a kind of world center of
19:13cotton production and that kind of bursts through and helps to fuel what becomes the industrial revolution
19:22and how important was the cotton industry for the british economy very very important if you look at
19:29uh 1780 it's two or three percent uh of the exports from britain are finished cotton goods by the 1820s
19:391830s it's gone up to 22 23 so it's exceptionally important for the british economy in that it's a
19:45fifth of the economy also a seventh of the population the working population are working in cotton based
19:51industries in the mid-19th century we we don't tend to think of um britain as have been having such
20:02involvement in slavery because with america can still go and visit the old plantations and there's
20:07more of a sort of physical legacy but here what what we tend to forget i think is that there's
20:14such an
20:14economic legacy of slavery the late 18th century is that moment when britain is the most active
20:21slaving power liverpool is going into a frenzy of slave trading and it's the largest slave port in the
20:28world and so dido's mother maria we don't know much about her we know she was on a spanish slave
20:35ship
20:36at some point what would life have been like for her well life would have been pretty grim um she'd
20:43be
20:44chained in the hold of a slave ship usually three or four hundred people in a very enclosed space
20:50often the women separated from the men so that they're available for the crew and the captain
20:57and they they'd only been bought up from the um from the hold once a day maybe twice a day
21:04for
21:04exercise and they'd be made to dance at those point to keep them their limbs moving we don't know much
21:10about the specific ship that maria was on we know it was captured by captain lindsay and that he took
21:18maria under his wing now we we know nothing about that kind of relationship other than the fact that
21:26it ended up with um him having a black daughter with maria dido bell out of the millions of black
21:35women
21:36taken on board slave ships and their immediate descendants i think it's an incredible thing
21:43that we have a likeness and a portrait of one of those individuals most of those lives we have
21:51we have nothing to remember them by
21:59as lord chief justice dido's great uncle is one of the most powerful legal voices of the century
22:06his ruling granting freedom to an escaped slave james somerset is considered one of the most significant
22:12milestones of the abolition movement in his will as well as leaving her some money lord mansfield wrote
22:19i confirmed to dido elizabeth bell her freedom despite his landmark ruling slavery wasn't abolished
22:28in the british empire for another 40 years no one was more aware of dido's precarious position than her
22:36great uncle at times learning about dido has been an emotional experience and i'm looking forward to
22:44seeing the gown of this once forgotten vivacious young woman be brought back to life
22:58oh wow oh my god the iridescence of the silk it's just amazing isn't it
23:08it's like a pearl isn't it it's really beautiful i feel like i'm about to go to a costume ball
23:14in the 1920s
23:17i was not expecting that at all i was very skeptical of this idea that she may have been
23:23dressed with a specific costume purpose in mind whether it was being dressed by the artist or whether
23:28it was the idea that this wasn't her actual clothing but putting it on
23:33i feel very very differently about that idea and it's not just that i'm wearing historic
23:40clothing that it feels like a costume but it's the drapery and the fact that there is
23:44a kind of orientalized idea i suppose it's very non-functional isn't it that isn't a shawl to keep you
23:51warm it's yeah there to just make but it's also it is very i i do wonder how much of
23:56an artistic
23:57affectation that surely i mean if we experimented for example with taking this off and then you'd
24:02see the lovely sleeves as well sleeves are so beautiful because actually in the painting that
24:07the blue is is very subtle it's just touches isn't it which is slightly distracting but i think it's
24:12nicer without does it feel less fancy dressy now or does it does it still feel fancy dressing
24:17it feels slightly less fancy dressy but i mean it's beautiful the extra length that just means that you can
24:24see or see the ruching and you know the way that that would have sort of sparkled in candlelight
24:31creating something where there are creases shows off the satin to the best it really does it is a
24:37very beautiful satin you could just watch it drape for hours it's quite hypnotic
24:45anna how do you feel about the turban i think it was quite successful actually
24:49it's definitely got that hat-like feel rather than a turban yeah there's so much in the painting
24:55that you can't see that i think all you could say is it's it's one of the possible solutions and
25:00it's
25:00definitely a successful solution and a plausible one but it's not necessarily what she was wearing
25:06in the painting it could have been one of our other theories yeah couldn't it yeah i do want to
25:12just lounge around in this forever i just wish we had a ball to send you to i know why
25:19do i never have
25:20a ball today wearing this gown as we've interpreted it has actually changed my mind about my theories
25:32around dido and around what she's wearing in this portrait initially i was really quite certain that
25:39she was wearing a version of fashionable dress a version of dress that was just becoming fashionable
25:44um you know slightly more informal with these sort of orientalized elements to it
25:51however having worn the ensemble i'm not so sure that that's the case anymore it did feel quite like
26:04wearing costume that i do still remains tantalizingly just out of reach and in some ways i feel a bit
26:11disappointed
26:13that we haven't fully got to the bottom of this story i feel very close to dido and i feel
26:19like i've
26:20kind of let her down i do feel like it's sort of symbolic of wider issues within history at times
26:28especially reflecting marginalized histories that are more difficult to find out about there's more
26:34work that needs to go into this um and i feel like we would get there with dido i feel
26:40like there
26:41is more information out there and it will just take a bit more time and a bit more research
26:58over on bbc two an art heist andrew graham dixon on what he calls the most shocking crime of the
27:0421st
27:05century stealing van gogh now whilst here on bbc for the story of six wives lucy worsley series focuses on
27:14and berlin next
27:15you
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