A lady's maid soaping linen

Morland's series of women performing household chores, published as mezzotints by his friend Philip Dawe in 1769, were clearly inspired by Philip Mercier's series of paintings engraved during the 1750s under the collective title 'Domestic Employment'. Morland exhibited several versions of this composition (see M. Postle, Angels & Urchins: The Fancy Picture in 18th Century British Art, London, 1998, under no. 70).