A woman stands in a sordid and poverty-stricken room. She is naked except for her shoes and ragged stockings, and is washing a garment, her 'last shift', in a broken chamber-pot supported on a broken chair. Another garment is in a broken basin on the floor; her hat and outer-garments also lie on the floor. Beside them are two pill-boxes and a paper inscribed "leakes famous pills". Her hair is elaborately dressed in a pyramid, decorated with feathers, flowers, and ribbons. The low bed has tattered coverings. A casement window (left) is open, showing the roof of a neighbouring house; on the sill a cat miaows. A broadside ballad is pinned to the window recess: "the comforts of single life. An old song". On the wall is a torn print, "ariadne forsaken". The plaster has peeled off the wall in patches, showing bricks. 9 february 1779
hand-coloured etching. Date: 1779. Dimensions: Height: 360 mm; Width: 255 mm. Medium: paper. Collection: British Museum. The Whore's Last Shift (BM 1868,0808.4586)
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