Four ugly old women try to scrub a black man white with brushes, a kettle of boiling water, as steam billows around the room. A fifth woman brings buckets of hot water. A sixth, in the center background, drinks gin. The black man squats in a big tub, with a pained expression on his face
Description:
Title inscribed beneath central image., Attributed to George Cruikshank., Date inferred from the 1827 publication date of George Cruikshank's Illustrations of time, plate 3 of which includes a smaller version of the central image. Cf. No. 15472 in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum, v. 10., Image also used in Plate 3 of Cruikshank's 'Illustrations of Time'; the attempt to 'wash a black man white' was a traditional example of an impossible task., and On paper watermarked "J. Whatman 1821".
Subject (Topic):
Black people, Ethnic stereotypes, Racism, Wash tubs, and Brooms & brushes
A gentleman leads a young woman and her mother (or chaperone) to the door of a carriage, held open by the coach driver who wears a top hat and a peculiar grin. In the background is a house or inn with a partially drawn figure (in ink) watching or emerging from the door. On the verso, pencil sketches of two men in top hats, and a smaller figure lightly sketched with a top hat in black ink
Description:
Title devised by cataloger., Signed by the artist in lower left., Date from dealer's description., and On verso are later inscriptions in pencil.
Subject (Topic):
Young adults, Carriages & coaches, Coach drivers, and Dwellings