A richly dressed but grotesque and balding old lady sits before her dressing table holding a lap dog and attended by a leering hairdresser and his assistant. The former places on her head a huge wig with side curls, flowers on the front and a profusion of ostrich plumes on top. Draperies adorn the dressing table and window, and patterned wall paper and carpet are visible
Alternative Title:
New fashioned head dress for young misses of three score and ten
Description:
Title from item.
Publisher:
Printed for John Bowles, No. 13 in Cornhill
Subject (Geographic):
England
Subject (Topic):
Hairstyles, Hairdressing, Clothing & dress, and Interiors
"A macaroni dressed in a grotesque exaggeration of the prevailing fashion. His hair is in a high pyramid with side curls, an enormous club hangs down his back. A small three-cornered hat is perched on the top of his hair. He wears a large nosegay. He stands in a mincing attitude by a toilet-table, draped with muslin on which are boxes and toilet jars, the latter inscribed "essence" and "Rose". The wall is panelled and ornamented with mouldings; the floor is carpeted and there are two cane-seated chairs of an unusual pattern [This probably represents the dress of 'Lord P-----' as a macaroni buck at the Pantheon masquerade of 12 May 1773. See 'Oxford Magazine', x. p. 179, where his dress is described]."--British Museum online catalogue, description of a proof state
Description:
Title from item., State with letters, as described in the British Museum catalogue from a print not in the British Museum collection. For a proof state before letters, see No. 5221 in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum, v. 5., Sheet trimmed to plate mark., and Temporary local subject terms: Male fashion, 1773 -- Macaronies -- Dressing room -- Furniture -- Carpet.