Washerwomen as part of larger Landscapes.

In renaissance art laundresses are often part of a larger scene, a backdrop to more important views or activities. Work has to be done, clothes need to be cleaned, but as a subservient activity, not worthy of much detail. Which is telling of the way washerwomen would have been treated: for instance in Renaissance Italy to be called a son of a lavandaia (washerwoman) was a career killer, and while clean laundry was regarded as proper in renaissance Dutch, the squalor and mess of dirty laundry was not to be associated with!

 

River valley lined with castles on hilltops; after Mirou; in foreground a man holding an axe greeting a figure on horseback; a maid crossing a footbridge with a small herd of cows; and a washerwoman in right foreground; from a series of six large landscapes after Mirou and Paul Bril. 

German, c.1620-22. Etching, by Matthäus Merian I.

The courtyard of a farm with, in the centre, a man addressing an old woman gathering firewood; three women washing laundry under the porch of the building on the left.

French, ca.1620-40. Etching by François Collignon.

Village, with, on the left carriage approaching the entrance of a castle; in the middle, man at fountain; on the right, washerwoman washing laundry in a pond. 

French, ca.1620-37. Etching by Nicolas de Son.

Plate 6: Landscape with a peasant crossing a bridge at centre, some village-houses and a chariot at left, two washerwomen in lower left corner, a road with figures at right, a city in far distance; second state with publisher's address; after Adriaen van Nieulandt. 

Dutch, ca.1629-52. Etching by Pieter Nolpe.

 

A classical landscape with in the left foreground a man and a woman walking on a road, preceeded by a boy (Cupid?) carrying a quiver and a spear); nearby, at left, a man addresses another, who sits on a stone; beyond, a river, with washerwomen on the right. 

French, ca.1660-1700. Etching, Anonymous.

 

The summer-house of Cuniberto de Wenzelsberg. Landscape with a large house and gardens decorated with statues in the centre, a brook with several washerwomen and horsemen in the foreground; a banner held by storks with dedication in the top right corner; second state with
retouchings added in the sky and in the foreground. 

Dutch, 1664. Etching and engraving by Jan van Ossenbeeck.

Landscape with a meandering river at left, three washerwomen on the river-bank, a bridge with some houses on either side beyond, a mountain in far distance; after Titian. 

Italian, 1682. Etching by Valentin Lefebre.

All images royalty free from the British Museum Image Database. 

Ashenburg, Katherine. The Dirt on Clean, an Unsanitized History. North Point Press, NY, 2007: p.110.

Biow, Douglas. The Culture of Cleanliness in Renaissance Italy. Cornell University Press, NY, 2006: p.125..