The last shift [graphic].

[London] : Printed for & sold by Carington Bowles, No. 69 St. Paul's Church Yard, London, published as the act directs, 21 Dec. 1792.

1 print : mezzotint ; sheet 35.9 x 26 cm

laid paper.

With the armorial bookplates of "Fraser, of Ledeclune, baronet" and "Herbert Henry Raphael" in volume. Sold at Sotheby's, 22 April 1901, to Sotheran.

"A courtesan stands at a wash-tub, washing her last shift. She wears a cap over ringlets in curl-papers and a tattered petticoat, a shawl covers her naked shoulders. The room is squalid, with plaster falling from the bricks. Across the fireplace stockings hang on a string to dry. The corner of a bed appears on the right. On the table by the wash-tub is a small gin tankard. Under it is a pair of stays. A cat tries to reach a (broken) plate of cheese on a chair. On the floor, beside a fashionable high-crowned hat, lies a ballad: 'How happy were my days till now...'. Papers are thrust under the vertical bar of the casement window, one inscribed 'Admit Two to the Boxes'. Probably an imitation of Gillray's 'The Whores Last Shift', see British Museum Satires No. 5604."--British Museum online catalogue

English

May 16, 2022

Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum, v. 6, no. 8234