Another day, another pair of Rowlandson’s. This one appealed because we live in a world where we are all too aware that being in close proximity to other people can cause dire consequences….
250 years ago, with no concept of viral infections, or even basic hygiene, people could still recoil at the idea of ‘picking something up’ from a neighbour – in this case head-lice. Quite makes you want to scratch, doesn’t it?
The engraving was published in 1787, when Rowlandson was thirty years old and is entitled “Is this YOUR LOUSE?” In fact of course, head-lice were common, and affected all classes. Wear a wig and it was a constant risk – which is why ancestor Richard Hall had a whole-of-head shave just about every day of his adult life.
I like the detail in this Rowlandson etching of a Penny Barber from 1789 – the frizzeur in the background using a flat iron on a wig, the sign stating that it was the oldest shaving shop in London – and offering ‘most money for second-hand wigs’, the wig blocks on the floor, and what looks to be a bald man puking into a wash basin on the left! All human life is here….