Dressed to Kill, Dressed to Till
Mezzotint after John Collet, publisher, place and date unknown, but likely London, c. 1775. 13 x 10 inches, cropped within platemark. A boy wearing a double-breasted waistcoat with belt and a round hat with ostrich plume, torments a sleeping apple vendor with a strand of grass. She wears the practical, layered dress of outdoor vendors, including a quilted petticoat, apron with vendor pockets, spotted shawl, with a bonnet pulled over the cap on her head. This mezzotint is one of the few period prints that depicts a belted waistcoat, which was popular among sportsmen, men of labor and the military for a relatively short period, the 1760s-1780s. The belt both provided abdominal support to the wearer, but also helped serve in the manner of suspenders, keeping the breeches and waistcoats from riding down or up, respectively. Unframed.
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