Artwork
H Beard Print Collection
H Beard Print Collection is a print by the Romanticist artist Carington Bowles. It dates from 22 and is held in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum. The work is a printed image, catalogued under the title ‘Lady Fashion’s Secretary’s Office, or Peticoat Recommendation the Best.
About this work
This print by Carington Bowles pokes fun at fashion advice in 1772. A satire print, it shows a woman sorting clothes while a servant waits. The scene flips the usual advice roles.
The full title jokes about “Peticoat Recommendation,” meaning the best way to pick skirts. It’s one of many social satires sold by Bowles, the map and print seller.
Look up Carington Bowles next.
Overview
The work is a printed image, catalogued under the title ‘Lady Fashion’s Secretary’s Office, or Peticoat Recommendation the Best.’ Produced in 1772, it belongs to the genre of satirical prints that circulated in eighteenth‑century England. The piece was issued by the commercial printer and dealer Carington Bowles, who specialized in maps and popular prints.
Subject & Meaning
The scene depicts a lady engaged in arranging garments while a servant stands by, awaiting instruction. By reversing the conventional dynamic—showing the woman as the source of fashion counsel and the servant as the recipient—the image lampoons contemporary etiquette manuals that prescribed how women should dress.
Technique & Style
Executed as a single‑color woodcut, the print relies on bold line work and exaggerated gestures to convey humor. The composition is crowded yet clear, with the figures rendered in a stylized manner typical of commercial satire of the period, emphasizing recognizable social types over individual likenesses.
History & Provenance
Printed for Carington Bowles, a London‑based map and print seller, the image was part of a series of social commentaries marketed to a broad audience. Bowles’ catalogues frequently included such topical pieces, which were sold as affordable entertainment for the growing middle class.
Context
In the early 1770s, fashion advice literature proliferated, offering prescriptive rules for women’s attire, especially regarding under‑garments like petticoats. This print engages directly with that discourse, using humor to critique the prescriptive nature of such guidance and the social expectations attached to female dress.
Legacy
The print exemplifies the intersection of commercial publishing and social satire in late‑Georgian England. It provides modern viewers with insight into contemporary attitudes toward gendered advice literature and the role of visual humor in public debate.
Artist & collection
Artist
This British printmaker turned the daily scene into shareable snapshots in the 1770s, carving crisp news and satire into paper.
