Image: Musée Cognacq-Jay, Paris
The Musée Cognacq-Jay in Paris is presenting the final weeks of ‘Révéler le féminin. Mode et apparences au XVIIIe siècle’, an exhibition developed in collaboration with the Palais Galliera. The exhibition remains on view through 20 September 2026 at the Musée Cognacq-Jay, 8 rue Elzévir, in the Marais.
The exhibition examines representations of femininity in the 18th century through portraits, gallant scenes and historical clothing. Its central premise is that fashion and the imagination helped construct different forms of femininity during the period, while also contributing to the circulation of French elegance across Enlightenment Europe.
The presentation is closely aligned with the Musée Cognacq-Jay’s stated focus, ‘Le goût du XVIIIe siècle’—the taste of the 18th century. The museum’s newsletter describes the exhibition as an exploration of both visual representation and material appearance, bringing painted images into dialogue with garments and the social meanings attached to dress.
Among the works identified in the exhibition’s image credits is ‘La Lettre’, made around 1780 by Nicolas Lavreince, also known as Niklas Lafrensen the Younger. The painting is held by the Musée Cognacq-Jay. The credits also identify ‘Groupe de six Amours jouant avec des fleurs’, another work from the museum’s collection, alongside a credited view of the exhibition by Nicolas Borel.
The museum has scheduled several adult and adolescent visits during the exhibition’s final weeks. General tours of ‘Révéler le féminin’ are listed for 5, 12 and 19 September at 11am and 2.30pm. Themed visits will focus on details of fashion in paintings on 10 September at 4pm, and on 18th-century fashion professions—including seamstresses, makers of beauty patches and fashion merchants—on 17 September at 4pm.
A two-part visit on 11 September will connect the Musée Cognacq-Jay exhibition with a separate presentation at the Palais Galliera. The first session, at 10.30am, covers ‘Révéler le féminin’ at the Musée Cognacq-Jay; the second, at 2pm, visits ‘Tisser, broder, sublimer. Les savoir-faire de la mode’ at the Palais Galliera. The two institutions are therefore linked through the programme, while the exhibition described here is held at the Musée Cognacq-Jay and closes on 20 September 2026.
