Ladys Maid Ironing.

Date1772

Publisher Carington Bowles 1724 - 1793

Engraver Richard Houston (1721-1775)

After work by Henry Morland

OriginEngland, London

MediumMezzotint engraving on laid paper

DimensionsOverall: 21 1/8 × 15 3/8 in (53.66 × 39.05cm)
Platemark: 19 3/4 × 13 7/8 in (50.16 × 35.24cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1968-65

DescriptionThe lower margin reads: "Ladys Maid Ironing./ Hen. Morland pinxit/ Carington Bowles excudit./ Rich.d Houston fecit./ LONDON, Published as the Act directs, Jan.y 1/st 1772./ Printed for CARINGTON BOWLES, Map & Printseller N.o 69."Label TextThis print depicts an idealized woman ironing clothing in a genre known as "fancy pictures." The print was engraved based on an oil painting by artist Henry Robert Morland, who painted a series of compositions depicting women engaged in domestic chores. Morland's friend, pupil, and potential relation Philip Dawe, initially engraved and published a series of mezzotints based on these portraits in 1769. Later, Richard Houston, an Irish engraver working in London, would engrave this print based on Morland's painting "A Laundry Maid Ironing." These compositions carried on the tradition of Philip Mercier's "Domestic Employments," a 1740s series of prints depicting well-dressed women completing various chores. Houston also engraved prints based on Mercier's paintings.ProvenanceBefore 1968, J. A. Lloyd Hyde [d. 1981] (New York, NY); 1968-present, purchased by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, VA).