These images of costumes were likely used in the library as teaching and learning resources for fashion and history subject areas before being brought to the archive for permanent preservation. Some plates are stamped with Leicester College of Arts Libraries which suggests that they were acquired some time between 1947-1969.
Raphaël Jacquemin [1821-1881] was a French painter and engraver. He was the grandson of Rabbi Abraham Cologna Mantoa, the Grand Rabbi of Paris and of Trieste under Napoleon 1st. Jacquemin studied drawing and painting in Paris and frequented the Milan and Florence Academies. Back in Paris he made himself known with his "General Iconography of Costumes Between the Fourth and Nineteenth Century" published in 1867. He painted several Old Testament scenes during his career many of these are available to see within the collection of plates we hold at the De Montfort University Archive.