A Penny Barber

1789

Thomas Rowlandson

Associated Names
Thomas Rowlandson

Artist, British, 1756 - 1827

This print features a scene in a barber shop. In the center, a tall person with a pointed nose and chin wearing a large white wig holds a shaving bowl. To the right, a person covered in a white cloth sits in a chair looking upwards, their chin covered in a white substance. A person on the left in front of a large blue window appears to wash their hands in a bowl, while another in the background uses a tool to press down on a wig that rests on a mannequin head. The characters all have light skin and wear garments in blue or white. Hanging from the ceiling is a blue sign that reads "The oldest shaving shop in London, most mony for second hand wigs." There is a bird cage perched above the window on the left.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    hand-colored etching and aquatint

  • Credit Line

    Rosenwald Collection

  • Dimensions

    sheet: 36.3 × 25.5 cm (14 5/16 × 10 1/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1945.5.585

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Grego 1880, Vol. I, no. 257

Associated Artworks

See all 196 artworks

Embarking from Brighthelmstone to Dieppe

Thomas Rowlandson

1787

Caricatures (volume II)

Thomas Rowlandson

1756

Embarking from Brighthelmstone to Dieppe

Thomas Rowlandson

1787


Artwork history & notes

Bibliography

1880

  • Grego, Joseph. Rowlandson the caricaturist; a selection from his works with anecdotal descriptions of his famous caricatures. 2 vols. London: Chattoand Windus, 1880. Reprint. New York: Collector's Editions, 1970.

Wikidata ID

Q65026233

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