Showing posts with label people from the 1800s. Show all posts
Showing posts with label people from the 1800s. Show all posts

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Free Vintage Illustration of a Victorian "Gentleman"

The illustration above is the coarse, comic character Sir Harry of Nonsuch House from the satire Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour, published in 1853. Mr. Sponge was the creation of Robert Smith Surtees, a sportswriter and author who had tried his hand at law before inheriting Hamsterley Hall in Durham and retiring into the life of a "gentleman of leisure."

Saturday, February 2, 2013

Free vintage illustration of a woman's portrait head

Click on the image above to view and download the full-size version

The illustration above was originally captioned "Animal Magnetism" (whaaaaat?) and purports to show the model in a "field" of "animal magnetic attraction." Okay, whatever, you crazy old 19th century you. 
I see this image turning into the base of a gorgeous necklace pendant, don't you?  

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Free vintage illustration of a woman washing clothes

Click on the image above to view and download the full-size version

This image of a woman fanning herself while washing clothes comes from an 1892 advertisement for Pearline soap. The first line of the ad reads "You can't keep cool while you're rubbing away over a tub of steaming clothes." Thank heavens for Maytag. 

Free vintage illustration of a young married couple reading by candlelight

Click on the image above to view and download the full-size version

In this Victorian-era illustration, a young married couple reads by candlelight while a traveler passes outside their window. I haven't yet been able to locate the source information, but I would guess that this is an illustration from a novel.