Dido A Stitch in Time


Dido

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Clothes are the ultimate form of visual communication.

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By looking at the way people dressed,

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we can learn not only about them as individuals,

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but about the society they lived in.

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I'm Amber Butchart, fashion historian,

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and in the words of Louis XIV,

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"I believe that fashion is the mirror of history".

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So, taking historical works of art as our inspiration,

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traditional tailor Ninya Mikhaila and her team will be recreating

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historical clothing using only authentic methods...

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Oh, look at that! It's changing colour in the air.

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..and I'll be finding out what they tell us about the people who wore them...

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I'm assuming the king wouldn't be dressing himself, though, right?

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..and the times they lived in...

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..and seeing what they're like to wear.

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Ah!

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For almost 200 years, this painting was described simply

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as a portrait of Lady Elizabeth Murray

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and it was assumed her unidentified companion was a maid.

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Only in the 1980s was it discovered that, far from being a servant,

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the other girl was in fact Lady Elizabeth's cousin, Dido Elizabeth Bell.

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Hers is a story that takes us from the slave ships of the Mediterranean

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to the heart of Georgian high society.

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When I look back through the history of Western art,

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what I'm inevitably confronted with is a lot of faces

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that look like mine,

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ie they're white.

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So what really drew me to this portrait of Dido and Elizabeth

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is the fact that it's so unusual to see a picture

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from this time that depicts

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a black subject and a white subject with equal status.

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There is something about Dido that I find incredibly human and really

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compelling, and I also think that from the tiny amount I know

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about her back story already

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that it's going to lead us into some much darker areas in the history of

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fashion, and I'm really keen to confront those areas and to explore

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them further. From what can be seen,

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Dido's dress appears both elegant and simple,

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but I'm interested to find out from Ninya what type of gown it may be.

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This portrait - dress-wise, a little bit of an enigma, isn't it?

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-It is.

-It is quite difficult to work out exactly what she's wearing.

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What are your thoughts here?

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There are so many possibilities with how we could interpret that garment.

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Unfortunately, like so many portraits,

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we can't see her back and it's particularly obscured by all these

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kind of layers of sashes and things in exactly the places where we would

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look for clues as to how it's constructed.

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And this sort of basket of fruit that she's carrying, as well.

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-Yeah.

-Do we have any other portraits that we can sort of compare in terms

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of types of garment that we think she might be wearing?

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Yeah, there are, actually, helpfully, lots of paintings of 18th-century women

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wearing these more relaxed exotic styles and, helpfully,

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they're not all holding something in front of them like Dido is.

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-Great!

-So this lady here, for example,

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you can see how very loose in cut this gown is.

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It's a simple crossover

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and I do think that the neckline

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that Dido's got there, with this V-shape,

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can only be achieved in the 18th century, really,

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by having a crossover wrapping front.

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Yeah. This is very, very similar, isn't it?

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Yeah, I think that's a real strong contender

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for how the front would look if we could see it.

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Now, some of the reading I've been doing about this portrait

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describes it as silver

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and it's my understanding that at this time silver was quite

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a popular colour for wedding dresses.

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-Wedding dresses would have been a bit more formal than this.

-Mmm.

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What kind of fabric do you think this is?

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Well, I don't believe it is silver.

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I've got a sample here of some silk that has silver thread woven into it

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and it doesn't drape in the same way that I think the fabric Dido is wearing drapes.

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It's quite stiff -

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because the only way to incorporate silver into a silk fabric

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in the 18th century was to weave actual threads of silver, so it's metal.

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-Right.

-And although it's a soft metal,

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it still changes the nature of the fabric.

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-Yeah.

-And I think this is too stiff for what we want to achieve with Dido.

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Yeah. It almost stays into the shape that you fold it, doesn't it?

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-It does, yeah.

-It's that...kind of stiff.

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-It's lovely, it's beautiful and it would make a lovely formal wedding dress.

-Yes.

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-But that's not what we're doing.

-No.

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So what I think we should be looking at is satin.

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Silk satin is really a very, very typical choice for these kinds of

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-informal robe and wrapping gown and a-la-Turque styles.

-Yeah.

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I think we definitely want a satin that's a very cool kind of ivory, possibly,

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or even a light grey, which could be interpreted as silver,

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but not ACTUAL silver.

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We have very little information with which to piece together Dido's story,

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but what we do know is that she was born in 1761,

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the illegitimate daughter of Captain John Lindsay and Maria Bell,

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an enslaved African woman on a Spanish ship captured by Lindsay.

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At some point in her infancy,

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Dido was sent to live with her father's uncle, Lord Mansfield,

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Britain's Lord Chief Justice and one of the most powerful men of his day.

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I'm keen to find out if the portrait can unwrap any secrets of Dido's

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life, so I'm meeting art historian Vicky Coltman at Scone Palace,

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Lord Mansfield's birthplace, where the painting now hangs.

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Now, I've completely fallen in love with this portrait,

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but I'm very interested to hear you contextualise this for me.

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How unusual is this for a late 18th-century portrait?

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Well, in terms of later 18th-century British art history,

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this is a really atypical image,

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mainly because we have these two women, one with a black complexion,

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one with a white complexion,

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presented more or less as social equals

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and it's extremely rare to find that on canvas because what we're dealing

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with in this period is a long pictorial tradition of black servant

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portraiture, in which they're shown as very much subservient to their

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female mistresses.

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And what we see here is an image from that mid-17th century period

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which is absolutely typical.

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We have here this black servant on the right.

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Also notice how he's looking up towards the female sitter.

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And, really, he's there to say to you and I, the external viewers,

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"Direct your gaze to her".

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So he becomes a kind of interlocutor for her beauty.

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And so, if we then leap forward over 100 years,

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what we can see immediately is how there's none of that subservience.

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I think this is an image that speaks of things like sisterhood,

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companionship.

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One theory is that Dido has maybe been dressed in clothes that aren't

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-her own to highlight some kind of exoticism.

-Mm-hm.

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Do you think that could be the case?

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So, Dido's dress... So what people have made of this,

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and you're quite right, is they've looked at the turban and they've

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suggested that her dress may be indebted to the idea of masquerades,

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which are very popular at this time,

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which are kind of fancy dress parties.

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I'm not so sure. But what we can say is that it looks to me to be very

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shiny and glimmery for a day dress,

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so I think it is unlikely that she's going to be in the poultry yard or

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the dairy wearing this dress.

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I, personally, am slightly sceptical of the sort of over-exoticised

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-readings of this portrait. A lot has been made of the turban.

-Mmm.

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The turban was very fashionable headgear at the time, I think,

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and definitely due to it being a sort of slightly exotic object,

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but I think that that doesn't necessarily confer on Dido this kind

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of exotic, objectified status.

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And that would also fit in with the style of dress,

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from what we can work out from the actual portrait itself.

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And the fact that it's more dynamic -

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she's not wearing any kind of panniers or hoops under her skirts

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in the way that Elizabeth is.

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I find Dido as a subject much more compelling.

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She looks like the one who's fun, the one who I want to hang out with,

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the one that I want to spend time with.

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I absolutely agree. I think Dido looks incredibly mischievous, actually.

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I'd much rather hang out with Dido.

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While I'm finding out about Dido's life,

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Ninya is trying to discover more about the style of her dress.

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What's really frustrating about Dido is that her bowl of fruit and her

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-sashes and her arm are all exactly...

-In the crucial area, yeah.

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..in the point that would really tell us what's going on with that.

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-Yeah.

-Because the other possibility that you were playing with...

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-Was it this one or the...? No, this one.

-Oh, the back, yes.

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..was that the back might be cut as a loose sack-back.

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Yes, to give it a bit more fullness below and also because that's a

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-fashionable element.

-You know why I don't think it can be a sack-back?

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I've just thought of this, is because the way that this top edge of the pleats is covered up

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in the 18th century is with an extra strip...

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-Yeah.

-..which then goes down here and it's the robing, isn't it?

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-And it's a classic...

-She doesn't have it.

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..look and it doesn't fit with anything else in the cut of that twirl, so,

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yeah, I was uncomfortable about that, thank you.

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-The other possibility is that something like this jacket...

-Yeah.

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-That's very simple, isn't it?

-Yes.

-And actually quite loose.

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If you imagine that as full-length and this gusset here expanding out...

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Well, I kind of had that thought, too, and I like that.

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I did put that back onto this one.

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-Oh, that's that one?

-Yes! But it hasn't worked, Ninya, look.

-Oh.

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It's kind of... It's nice, the back is nice and the seams are nice,

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but the way it hangs down now,

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it's neither one thing nor another, that, so...

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Yeah. It doesn't work for me.

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That garment is not a classic Western garment like her cousin is wearing.

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-It IS different and think that's the point - they're making her different.

-Mmm.

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So we don't know whether she had that herself or whether it was part

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of the painter's clothing.

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We don't know anything about it, sadly, do we?

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We don't know the story that led up to the painting

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and what her thoughts were.

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And we assume she was put into that to make a contrast,

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but she might have chosen it.

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And what's this one?

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That is a bed gown.

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Do you think that's a possibility?

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It is.

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I think you're going to have to do another twirl!

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SHE LAUGHS

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Well, we have the new twirl.

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What I really like is this all-in-one...

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-Yes.

-..sleeve. I think it's just the most convincing.

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Yeah. And hers isn't actually huge.

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-Some of them are very big, but hers is not.

-You could probably make that a little bit...

-Smaller?

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-Smaller.

-And that definitely.

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And that tight. That's really snug on her, isn't it?

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Yes, and it really runkles down.

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-It must have a little button or something there, I think.

-Yeah. Yeah.

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-Three twirls lucky!

-Oh, thank goodness!

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THEY LAUGH

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Raised by the Mansfields, alongside her cousin Lady Elizabeth,

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Dido grew up in luxury at Kenwood House,

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a world away from the experiences of most black people

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in England at the time.

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SI Martin is an expert on black British history

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and I'm hoping he can tell me more about Dido's life at Kenwood.

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This is, you know, a far cry from the way that most people

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in Georgian Britain would have grown up.

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But I would imagine that,

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for a black woman, it's especially unusual.

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There was something very particular about Dido's situation,

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though it wasn't unique. There were other black people,

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particularly people of mixed background,

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who had - similar to Dido's own parentage - one white male father

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and usually a black enslaved mother, who were lucky enough to enjoy some

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degree of the luxuries that Dido would have enjoyed.

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But it's true to say that her experiences overall were very different from

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the vast majority of black people living in Britain at the time.

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-And she worked within the grounds as well, didn't she, at the home?

-Yeah.

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Was that usual?

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Yeah. Work of the sort that Dido was engaged in,

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low-level household duties, looking after the dairy,

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working with Lord Mansfield, note taking, light accounts -

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these would be the occupations of a gentlewoman of the period

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and perhaps Dido considered herself as such.

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But they wouldn't have been the duties with which the lady

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of the house would have bothered herself and I doubt very much

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if Lady Elizabeth would have had anything to do in those domains at all.

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One interesting feature of the likeness of Dido in the painting

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is that she is wearing both a turban and an ostrich feather.

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Yeah.

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And although, at the time,

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the wearing of turbans had become quite fashionable among some parts

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of the upper classes, it's also a signifier for a lot of young black people in domestic service.

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So Dido's life here at Kenwood - her family,

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the relationships that they had - she was clearly cared for.

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Although we know that she was fawned on,

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and that she was a great favourite and confidante of Lord Mansfield,

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Dido is illegitimate.

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She did not always dine with her blood relations, as they were.

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She is definitely outside family.

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This would have been a very difficult issue,

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just to negotiate socially and culturally.

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To meet others outside the family, even within the family,

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it would have caused problems and that would have set her apart.

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I'm starting to get more of a sense of Dido's world,

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but I feel that many of the details of her life are still hidden.

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Last time I saw Ninya,

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details of the dress were proving equally elusive,

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so I'm looking forward to finding out what decisions have been made.

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This is the pattern. It's a very common style amongst various ethnic

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garments across the world.

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It's the idea that you want to use as much of the material as possible,

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have no wastage at all, because materials are very expensive and

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time-consuming to make

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and it's making the most of the materials as you cut, so planning ahead.

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So, if you look at this, this is...

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..the neck. It's going to come out of there.

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-Ah, yeah.

-This is the sleeve.

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-And this is the body.

-Great.

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And this piece that we cut out of there to make the sleeve fits very

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cunningly down here.

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-Ah, that's clever, isn't it?

-Yeah. To increase the size of the skirt.

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Oh, I see.

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The joy of it is, because it's such a simple cut,

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all the beauty is going to come from the material itself.

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-Oh, and it is so beautiful, this satin.

-It is wonderful.

-Excellent.

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I cannot wait to see it.

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-Wow, look at that.

-So you can see how you could interpret that as silver.

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-Yeah. Absolutely.

-And it's not, it's just pure silk, but...

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It does look silvery, doesn't it?

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-Yeah.

-It really does.

-It's very pleasing.

-It's a very pale grey.

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But it's pure silk, and there's no actual metal thread in it,

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so it's going to be ever so soft and drapey and gorgeous.

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Yeah, it's just absolutely beautiful.

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It has wonderful depth, doesn't it?

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Yeah. It really does, it really does.

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So this is looking very exciting.

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Yes, I've done about six versions of this turban.

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Wow.

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But using muslin rather than the real silks.

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So, here, I'm just doing the draping of this line here.

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So would you like to have a go at trying to emulate that pleat there?

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Yeah. I would love to.

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So, you want to pull this back on itself, like that.

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OK.

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So... And then will it all be pinned...?

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-Yeah.

-How is it going to be sort of secured?

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Once we've played around with it and draped it happily,

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then I'll sew it so that you can't see the stitching.

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I see. Right, right.

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Which will also be helped with disguising it

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-because of the jewels on her turban.

-Yeah.

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So if there are any stitches that can't be helped but to be seen,

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then they will be covered with jewels.

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Right. So...

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Oh, that looks fab. I love those pleats. So, just pin it a bit here.

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So that... It doesn't move.

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Now, my instinct is to try to make it a bit more elaborate and use this

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to create some kind of, like,

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fan shape at the side or at the back,

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but that wouldn't be quite accurate, would it?

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No, this is quite a subtle little addition, I think.

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You don't always need so much accessorising to...

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I have to disagree. THEY LAUGH

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So, will this all form the lining?

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Will we be tucking this in on itself...

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-Yes.

-..to create the lining?

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-And then, once it's all pinned, I'll sew around the outside.

-Mm-hm.

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So it will be like a proper brim.

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Yeah. This is fun.

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-This bit - you can see immediate returns...

-Yeah!

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..doing this. It's quite satisfying.

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I think that's rightly pinned, so we'll just put it on there.

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Look at that. Lovely.

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-I'm happy with that.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

0:17:430:17:45

Very little written evidence of Dido's life exists,

0:17:470:17:50

but she does appear in the household account book

0:17:500:17:53

still held at Kenwood House

0:17:530:17:54

and I've been given special permission to see them.

0:17:540:17:57

I'm here in the glorious surroundings,

0:17:580:18:01

this amazing neoclassical room,

0:18:010:18:03

which is the library that Dido would have spent quite a lot of time in.

0:18:030:18:07

What I've got here is some of the household accounts

0:18:070:18:11

and so, in here, we do get some very small glimpses of Dido's life.

0:18:110:18:15

"Dido, quarter allowance due October the fourth, £5."

0:18:150:18:20

So she was given £20 a year, paid in quarterly instalments.

0:18:200:18:26

Towards the end of the 1780s,

0:18:260:18:28

Dido's allowance was also supplemented by birthday gifts and Christmas gifts as well.

0:18:280:18:35

We can see one here.

0:18:350:18:36

"To Dido at Christmas, by Lord Mansfield's order."

0:18:360:18:41

Now, this one is probably my all-time favourite.

0:18:430:18:46

"Washing and glazing Dido's bed."

0:18:460:18:48

Now, what that tells us is that likely her bed

0:18:480:18:52

was decorated with chintz hangings.

0:18:520:18:56

Now, chintz was glazed fabric and was very,

0:18:560:18:59

very fashionable at this time as well,

0:18:590:19:00

so it does give us a sort of insight into Dido's world,

0:19:000:19:04

into Dido's life here.

0:19:040:19:06

While the account books give us a tantalising peek into Dido's home life,

0:19:080:19:12

we get a more tangible insight from the diary of Thomas Hutchinson,

0:19:120:19:16

an American visitor to Lord Mansfield.

0:19:160:19:18

"A black came in after dinner and sat with the ladies and,

0:19:200:19:23

"after coffee, walked with the company in the gardens,

0:19:230:19:26

"one of the young ladies having her arm within the other.

0:19:260:19:29

"She is neither handsome nor genteel - pert enough.

0:19:300:19:33

"He calls her Dido, which I suppose is all the name she has.

0:19:350:19:38

"He knows he has been reproached for showing fondness for her -

0:19:380:19:41

"I dare say not criminal."

0:19:410:19:43

Hutchinson's attitude highlights Dido's position perfectly.

0:19:440:19:48

She was well-loved by her family,

0:19:480:19:50

but, as the daughter of a slave in 18th century England,

0:19:500:19:53

she was never going to be accepted as their social equal.

0:19:530:19:57

The fact is that, when this portrait was painted,

0:19:570:20:00

Britain's participation in the slave trade was at its height.

0:20:000:20:03

By the 18th century, demand for English cotton was booming.

0:20:050:20:09

Easily washable and colourful,

0:20:090:20:10

it was becoming the fashion fabric of choice for the middle classes

0:20:100:20:14

and a valuable trading commodity, driving the Industrial Revolution.

0:20:140:20:19

However, the great wealth this brought the nation

0:20:190:20:22

was built upon enslaved labour in Britain's colonies.

0:20:220:20:25

To find out more, I'm meeting historian Alan Rice.

0:20:270:20:30

So, how important to the cotton industry around here

0:20:320:20:36

was slave-produced cotton from America?

0:20:360:20:40

Well, in the 1780s and 1790s,

0:20:400:20:42

slave-produced cotton started exploding onto the scene here,

0:20:420:20:47

so a town like Manchester and its environs becomes a kind of world centre of cotton production

0:20:470:20:54

and that kind of bursts through and helps to fuel

0:20:540:20:58

what becomes the Industrial Revolution.

0:20:580:21:00

And how important was the cotton industry for the British economy?

0:21:000:21:05

Very, very important. If you look at 1780,

0:21:050:21:10

2-3% of the exports from Britain are finished cotton goods.

0:21:100:21:15

By the 1820s, 1830s, it's gone up to 22-23%.

0:21:150:21:19

So it's exceptionally important for the British economy,

0:21:190:21:22

in that it's a fifth of the economy.

0:21:220:21:24

Also a seventh of the population, the working population,

0:21:240:21:27

-are working in cotton-based industries...

-Right.

0:21:270:21:30

..in the mid-19th century.

0:21:300:21:33

We don't tend to think of Britain as having such involvement in slavery

0:21:330:21:41

because, with America, you can still go and visit the old plantations

0:21:410:21:44

-and there's more of a sort of physical legacy.

-Mmm.

0:21:440:21:47

But here, what we tend to forget, I think,

0:21:470:21:51

is that there is such an economic legacy of slavery.

0:21:510:21:54

The late 18th century is that moment

0:21:540:21:57

when Britain is the most active slaving power.

0:21:570:22:00

Liverpool is going into a frenzy of slave trading

0:22:000:22:05

and is the largest slave port in the world.

0:22:050:22:07

So, Dido's mother, Maria - we don't know much about her.

0:22:070:22:11

We know she was on a Spanish slave ship at some point.

0:22:110:22:15

What would life have been like for her?

0:22:150:22:18

Well, life would have been pretty grim.

0:22:180:22:21

She'd be chained in the hold of a slave ship -

0:22:210:22:24

usually 300-400 people in a very close space -

0:22:240:22:28

often the women separated from the men

0:22:280:22:31

so that they're available for the crew and the captain.

0:22:310:22:35

And they'd only been brought up from the hold once a day,

0:22:350:22:40

maybe twice a day for exercise,

0:22:400:22:43

and they would be made to dance at those points,

0:22:430:22:46

to keep their limbs moving.

0:22:460:22:47

We don't know much about the specific ship that Maria was on.

0:22:470:22:51

We know it was captured by Captain Lindsay

0:22:510:22:54

and that he took Maria under his wing.

0:22:540:22:58

Now, we know nothing about that kind of relationship, other than the fact

0:22:580:23:03

that it ended up with him having a black daughter with Maria -

0:23:030:23:09

Dido Belle. And out of the millions of black women

0:23:090:23:14

taken on board slave ships,

0:23:140:23:17

and their immediate descendants,

0:23:170:23:20

I think it's an incredible thing that we have a likeness

0:23:200:23:24

and a portrait of one of those individuals.

0:23:240:23:27

Most of those lives, we have nothing to remember them by.

0:23:270:23:31

As Lord Chief Justice,

0:23:380:23:39

Dido's great uncle was one of the most powerful legal voices of the century.

0:23:390:23:44

His ruling granting freedom to an escaped slave, James Somerset,

0:23:440:23:48

is considered one of the most significant milestones

0:23:480:23:51

of the abolition movement.

0:23:510:23:53

In his will, as well as leaving her some money,

0:23:530:23:56

Lord Mansfield wrote, "I confirm to Dido Elizabeth Belle her freedom."

0:23:560:24:01

Despite his landmark ruling,

0:24:020:24:04

slavery wasn't abolished in the British Empire for another 40 years.

0:24:040:24:10

No-one was more aware of Dido's precarious position than her great uncle.

0:24:100:24:14

At times, learning about Dido has been an emotional experience

0:24:170:24:21

and I'm looking forward to seeing the gown of this once-forgotten

0:24:210:24:23

vivacious young woman be brought back to life.

0:24:230:24:26

Oh, wow!

0:24:350:24:38

Oh, my God!

0:24:380:24:40

The iridescence of the silk is just amazing, isn't it?

0:24:400:24:45

It's like a pearl, isn't it? Yeah, it's really beautiful.

0:24:460:24:49

I feel like I'm about to go to a costume ball in the 1920s.

0:24:490:24:53

I was not expecting that at all.

0:24:560:24:58

I was very sceptical of this idea that she may have been dressed

0:24:580:25:01

with a specific costume purpose in mind,

0:25:010:25:04

whether it was being dressed by the artist or whether it was the idea

0:25:040:25:07

that this wasn't her actual clothing, but putting it on...

0:25:070:25:10

..I feel very, very differently about that idea.

0:25:120:25:15

And it's not just that I'm wearing historic clothing,

0:25:150:25:18

that it feels like a costume,

0:25:180:25:20

but it's the drapery and the fact there is a kind of orientalised idea, I suppose.

0:25:200:25:26

It's very non-functional, isn't it?

0:25:260:25:28

That isn't a shawl to keep you warm.

0:25:280:25:29

-Yeah.

-It's there to just make you look nice.

0:25:290:25:31

But it's also...it is very...

0:25:310:25:33

I do wonder how much of an artistic affectation that shawl is.

0:25:330:25:36

I mean, if we experimented, for example, with taking this off,

0:25:360:25:39

-and then you'd see the lovely sleeves as well.

-Aw, aw!

0:25:390:25:42

-Sleeves are so beautiful.

-It is actually in the painting that the blue is very subtle.

0:25:420:25:46

-It's muted, yeah.

-It's just touches, isn't it?

0:25:460:25:48

-Which is slightly distracting, but...

-I think it's nicer without.

0:25:480:25:51

Does it feel less fancy dressy now, or does still feel fancy dressy?

0:25:510:25:54

It feels slightly less fancy dressy, but, I mean, it's beautiful.

0:25:560:25:59

The extra length, it just means that you can see the rouching

0:25:590:26:04

and the way that would have sort of sparkled in candlelight.

0:26:040:26:09

-Creating something where there are creases shows off the satin to the best.

-It really does.

0:26:090:26:14

It is a very beautiful satin.

0:26:140:26:16

-You could just watch it drape for hours.

-Mmm, mmm.

0:26:160:26:19

It's quite hypnotic.

0:26:190:26:21

Anna, how do you feel about the turban?

0:26:230:26:24

I think it was quite successful, actually.

0:26:240:26:27

It's definitely got that hat-like feel, rather than a turban.

0:26:270:26:31

Yeah. There's so much in the painting that you can't see

0:26:310:26:35

that I think all you can say is it's one of the possible solutions,

0:26:350:26:38

and it's definitely a successful solution and a plausible one,

0:26:380:26:41

-but it's not necessarily what she was wearing in the painting.

-Yeah.

0:26:410:26:45

-It could have been one of our other theories, couldn't it?

-Yeah.

0:26:450:26:49

I do want to just lounge around in this forever.

0:26:490:26:52

-I just wish we had a ball to send you to.

-I know.

0:26:520:26:55

THEY LAUGH

0:26:550:26:57

Why do I never have a ball to go to?

0:26:570:26:59

THEY LAUGH

0:26:590:27:01

Wearing this gown as we've interpreted it

0:27:010:27:05

has actually changed my mind about my theories around Dido

0:27:050:27:10

and around what she's wearing in this portrait.

0:27:100:27:13

Initially, I was really quite certain that she was wearing a version of fashionable dress,

0:27:130:27:18

a version of dress that was just becoming fashionable.

0:27:180:27:23

You know, slightly more informal,

0:27:230:27:24

with these sort of orientalised elements to it.

0:27:240:27:28

However, having worn the ensemble,

0:27:290:27:32

I'm not so sure that that's the case any more.

0:27:320:27:35

It did feel quite like wearing a costume.

0:27:350:27:39

Dido still remains tantalisingly just out of reach

0:27:430:27:48

and, in some ways, I feel a bit disappointed

0:27:480:27:51

that we haven't fully got to the bottom of this story.

0:27:510:27:55

I feel very close to Dido and I feel like I've kind of let her down.

0:27:550:27:59

I do feel like it's sort of symbolic of wider issues within history at

0:27:590:28:05

times, especially reflecting marginalised histories that are more

0:28:050:28:09

difficult to find out about.

0:28:090:28:11

There's more work that needs to go into this

0:28:110:28:15

and I feel like we will get there with Dido -

0:28:150:28:18

I feel like there is more information out there -

0:28:180:28:20

and it will just take a bit more time and a bit more research.

0:28:200:28:24

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