Mother Louse
David Loggan, Late 17th Century
David Loggan, Late 17th Century
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David Loggan (c. 1635-1692) (engraver)
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A print depicting the English alewife Mother Louse, holding a tankard and a pitcher. Her portrait is accompanied by a humorous poem and coat of arms features three lice and a tankard, with the motto Three Lice Passant. Gosford Hospital was established in the 12th century in Oxfordshire, England, and by 1547 had become an asylum for the poor known as "Louse Hall." It subsequently became an alehouse. According to legend, Mother Louse was the last English woman to wear a ruff, and the verse printed below her portrait refers to it.
The verse reads: You laugh now Goodman two shoes, but at what? My Grove, my Mansion House, or my dun Hat; Is it for that my loving Chin & Snout Are met, because my Teeth are fallen out; Is it at me, or at my RUFF you titter; Your Grandmother you Rouge nerewore a fitter; Is it at Forebead's Wrinkle, or Cheek's Furrow, Or at my Mouth, so like a Coney-Borrough, Or at those Orient Eyes that nere shed tear, But when the Excisemen come, that's twice a year. Kiss Me & tell me true, & when they fail, Thou shalt have larger Potts & stronger Ale. David Loggan was a British engraver, draughtsman and painter. Descended from an Anglo-Scottish family, he first studied in Danzig (now Gdansk), where he was born, under Willem Hondius and then in Amsterdam, before arriving in London in the mid 1650s. He produced mainly engravings, as well as miniature portrait drawings in graphite on parchment. In 1662, he engraved the title-page for the folio Book of Common Prayer. By 1669, he was living in Oxford, and was appointed "public sculptor" to the university. He then proceeded to draw and engrave all the Oxford colleges in bird's-eye views for his famous folio Oxonia Illustrata, published in 1675, the year that he was made a British citizen. In 1690, he published Cantabrigia Illustrata, a collection documenting Cambridge University, and was given the position of engraver to the university. Loggan was a prolific portraitist, and has numerous engravings in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery in London. Condition: Generally very good with the usual light soiling and wear. Faint crease to center from fold has been flattened. Margins a bit short. Reference: "David Loggan." The Grove Dictionary of Art. New York: Macmillan. 2000. Artnet.com. http://www.artnet.com/library/05/0515/T051566.asp (23 January 2003). Markham, Margaret. "Medieval Hospitals." The Vale and Downland Museum: Wantage, U.K. http://www.wantage.com/museum/Local_History/Medieval_Hospitals/body_medieval_hospitals.html (23 January 2003). Matterer, James L. "Feasts Within the Society for Creative Anachronism." 1993. http://www.godecookery.com/scafeast/ians2.htm#louse (23 January 2003). |