David Maitland Armstrong and Helen Neilson Armstrong in 15th-century Style Fancy Dress in Rome

This image was made while the couple lived in Rome, where Maitland Armstrong had been sent in 1869 as American Consul to the Papal States, Mrs. Armstrong wears a 15th century style gown and her husband a doublet jacket and hose, costumes reputedly inspired by a painting by Carpaccio. The occasion was a ball held to raise funds to relieve victims of a devasting flood of the Tiber that took place December 26, 1870. Armstrong and two artist friends, Frederic Crowninshield and Charles Caryl Coleman, both of whom lived in Rome at the time, formed the organizing committee.

Credit: Gift of Helena Bienstock, Cynthia MacKay Keegan and Frank E. Johnson, 2012