Laundry boards used by washerwomen in Italy, especially Venice

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en-GB"> <head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="application/xhtml+xml; charset=UTF-8" /><link rel="Alternate" title="Old and interesting" type="application/rss+xml" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/oldandinteresting" /><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/css/html1.css" /><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/css/layout1.css" /><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/css/extra.css" /><link rel="shortcut icon" href="/images/favicon.ico" /><meta name="msvalidate.01" content="0F6BF2EF6A2C10EC2C11FF3E234CAC22" /> <style type="text/css"> .style1 { background-color: #FFCC99; } </style> <title> Laundry boards used by washerwomen in Italy, especially Venice </title></head> <body> <div id="content"> <div id="header"> <div id="title"> </div> <a href="/default.aspx"> <img src="/images/bg/lefttitle.jpg" alt="old and interesting" class="left" id="top" /></a> <img src="/images/bg/righttitle.jpg" alt="history of domestic objects, household antiques in use" class="right" /> </div> <div id="mainMenu"> <ul class="floatRight"> <li><a href="/default.aspx" title="Home"><strong>home</strong></a></li> <li><a href="/books.aspx" title="Books, writers, bibliography"><strong>books</strong></a></li> <li><a href="/contact.aspx" title="Contact by email"><strong>contact</strong></a></li> </ul> </div> <div id="page"> <div class="width22 floatLeft leftColumn"> <ul class="sideMenu"> <li class="here"> <br />     History of:<ul> <li><a href="/bread-peel.aspx">Bread peels</a></li> <li><a href="/history-butter-churns.aspx">Butter-making & churns </a></li> <li><a href="/vintage-electric-irons.aspx">Early electric irons</a></li> <li><a href="/history-feather-beds.aspx">Featherbeds, duvets, eiderdowns </a></li> <li><a href="/antique-irons-smoothers-mangles.aspx">Ironing & smoothing</a></li> <li><a href="/history-ironing-boards.aspx">Ironing boards</a></li> <li><a href="/history-of-laundry.aspx">Laundry - early methods</a></li> <li><a href="/history-of-washing-clothes.aspx">Laundry in the 1800s</a></li> <li><a href="/laundry-blue.aspx">Laundry blue, bluing</a></li> <li><a href="/washboards-history.aspx">Washboards</a></li> <li><a href="/history-washing-machines.aspx">Washing machines before 1800</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul>  <ul class="sideMenu"> <li class="here">    Resources about: <ul> <li><a href="/kitchen-antiques.aspx">Kitchen antiques</a> </li> <li><a href="/pottery-earthenware.aspx">Domestic earthenware, redware</a> </li> <li><a href="/salt-glazed-stoneware.aspx#salt">Salt glazed stoneware</a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class="sideMenu"> <li class="here">    More:<ul> <li><a href="/baby-walkers-history.aspx">Baby walkers</a></li> <li><a href="/communal-bread-ovens.aspx">Bakehouses</a></li> <li><a href="/bed-warmers.aspx">Bed warmers</a></li> <li><a href="/ale-warmers.aspx">Beer, ale mullers</a></li> <li><a href="/besoms-brooms.aspx">Besoms, broom-making</a></li> <li><a href="/box-beds.aspx">Box, cabinet, and press beds</a></li> <li><a href="/butter-crocks-history.aspx">Butter crocks, coolers</a></li> <li><a href="/tallow-candles-snuffers.aspx">Candle snuffers, tallow</a></li> <li><a href="/clothes-horses-airers.aspx">Clothes horses, airers</a></li> <li><a href="/peat-fire.aspx">Cooking on a peat fire</a></li> <li><a href="/drying-outdoors.aspx">Drying grounds</a></li> <li><a href="/enamelware-history.aspx">Enamel cookware</a></li> <li><a href="/fireplaces.aspx">Fireplaces</a></li> <li><a href="/fluting-goffering-irons.aspx">Irons for frills & ruffles</a></li> <li><a href="/knitting-sheaths.aspx">Knitting sheaths, belts</a></li> <li><a href="/laundry-starch-history.aspx">Laundry starch</a></li> <li><a href="/jack-beds.aspx">Log cabin beds</a></li> <li><a href="/washing-with-lye.aspx">Lye and chamber-lye</a></li> <li><a href="/box-mangles.aspx">Mangles</a></li> <li><a href="/marseilles-quilts-marcella.aspx">Marseilles quilts</a></li> <li><a href="/medieval-renaissance-beds.aspx">Medieval beds</a></li> <li><a href="/history-rag-rugs.aspx">Rag rugs</a></li> <li><a href="/rushlights.aspx">Rushlights, dips & nips</a></li> <li><a href="/straw-mattresses.aspx">Straw mattresses</a></li> <li><a href="/sugar-nippers.aspx">Sugar cutters - nips & tongs</a></li> <li><a href="/medieval-tablecloths.aspx">Tablecloths</a></li> <li><a href="/tinderbox.aspx">Tinderboxes</a></li> <li><a href="/washing-beetles-possing.aspx">Washing bats and beetles</a></li> <li><a href="/washing-dollies.aspx">Washing dollies</a></li> <li><a href="/sitemap.htm"><b>List of all articles</b></a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class="sideMenu"> <li class="here">   </li> </ul> <br /> <blockquote class="palefullwidth"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/oldandinteresting"> <img src="images/bg/rss.jpg" class="floatLeft" style="font-style: italic" /></a>Subscribe to <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/oldandinteresting">RSS feed</a> or get <a href="http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/emailverifySubmit?feedId=918986&loc=en_US"> email</a> updates.</blockquote> <br /> <blockquote class="palefullwidth"> <center> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0801444810?ie=UTF8&tag=oldint-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0801444810"> <img border="0" src="zrenaissanceitaly.jpg"></a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=oldint-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0801444810" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" /><br /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0801444810?ie=UTF8&tag=oldint-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0801444810"> The Culture of Cleanliness in Renaissance Italy</a><br /> from Amazon.com<br /> <img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=oldint-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0801444810" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0801444810?ie=UTF8&tag=oldint-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0801444810"> Or from Amazon UK</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.co.uk/e/ir?t=oldint-21&l=as2&o=2&a=0801444810" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" /> </center> </blockquote><br /> <blockquote class="palefullwidth"> ...<em>a collection of 34 small vignettes of everyday life painted by Pietro Longhi..... The working class is represented as well: spinners and laundresses; a woman who sells fritole, a fried dumpling, and a housewife turning out a potful of polenta.</em><br /> Alberta Eiseman, in the New York Times, July 1988</blockquote><br /> <blockquote class="palefullwidth"><script type="text/javascript"> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script></blockquote> <br /> </div> <div class="width78 floatRight"> <div class="maintext"> <h1> Washing boards in Italy</h1> <h3> Laundresses in Venice, Bologna and beyond</h3> <p> <a href="photocredit.aspx#laundry"> <img class="floatRight" alt="washerwoman scrubbing on board propped on tub" title="Pietro Longhi, detail from Le lavandaie, c1840" src="images/longhi washerwomen detail.jpg " /></a>Regular readers will see from these 18th century Venetian pictures that we are once again looking for ancestors of the classic 19th and 20th century grooved washboard. These washerwomen using boards were painted by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pietro_Longhi">Pietro Longhi</a> around 1740, nearly 100 years before the metal ridged <a href="washboards-history.aspx"> washboard was invented</a> in the USA. </p> <p> Similar <a href="http://www.giacomoleopardi.provincia.venezia.it/nonniincercadiguai_web/vita_quotidiana.htm"> boards, supported on legs</a>, were still in use in the Venice region in the mid-20th century. Boards were also used for <a href="http://cica.provincia.venezia.it/images/gallery/nascimbe.jpg"> riverside washing</a>, like the <a href="french-washboards.aspx">French box and board</a>.</p> <p> More than a century before Longhi's "washboards", a woodcut illustration from Bologna shows two <a href="http://badigit.comune.bologna.it/croce/sfoglia.aspx?Num_Lib=114"> washerwomen with a board</a> balanced across a big tub.   </p> <p> <a href="photocredit.aspx#laundry"> <img class="floatLeft" alt="woman at washtub with large board" title="Longhi's La Lavandaia" src="images/longhi washerwoman.jpg " /></a> These Italian boards don't seem to have had grooves cut into them. The earliest ridged washboards were from Scandinavia, according to Edward Pinto, an expert on hand-made domestic woodenware.</p> <p> Scrubbing boards were not used by everyone doing laundry in every region of Italy. Stone blocks built into a wash-house or riverside rocks were two possible alternatives.</p> <blockquote> <em>The lavandaia [laundress] is the person who knows all about "dirty linen, soap, ashes, the soap and water mixture for the prewash, the lye (both soft and strong), the washing boards, the washing horses, the drainers, the washtub, the laundry basins, the cauldrons, the little furnaces, and the skimmers......"<br /> <br /> </em>Douglas Biow, translating and quoting Alessandro Citolini's <em>La tipocosmia</em> (Venice 1561) in <em>The Culture of Cleanliness in Renaissance Italy</em>, 2006</blockquote> <p> The picture on the right comes from Longhi's <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Pietro_Longhi_038.jpg"> The Washerwomen</a>; the one on the left is The Washerwoman (La Lavandaia).</p> <p> Also about boards and laundry:<br /> <a href="washboards-history.aspx">When was the washboard invented? </a> <br /> <a href="french-washboards.aspx">French laundry boards </a> </p> <br /> <p> <img src="images/2ndleaf.gif" style="border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-bottom: medium none" /> 13 February 2008 </p> <p> <a href="http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?url=http://www.oldandinteresting.com/laundry-venice.aspx&title=laundry-venice"> <img alt="StumbleUpOnlogo" src="images/stumbleuponlogo.jpg" style="border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-bottom: medium none" title="StumbleUpon button" /></a>   <a href="http://www.delicious.com/save"> <img alt="Delicious" src="images/deliciousicon.jpg" style="border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-bottom: medium none" title="Delicious" /></a> <br /> <br /> <iframe src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.oldandinteresting.com%2Flaundry-venice.aspx&layout=standard&show_faces=false&width=450&action=like&font=verdana&colorscheme=light&height=35" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border: none; overflow: hidden; width: 450px; height: 35px;" allowtransparency="true"></iframe> </p> <p> <script type="text/javascript"> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> </p> <p> <a href="#top">Back to top of page</a><br /> </p> <br /> <p> </p> </div> </div> <div class="width78 floatRight"> <div class="maintext"> <br /> <blockquote> You may like our new sister site <a href="http://www.homethingspast.com/">Home Things Past</a> where you'll find articles about antiques, vintage kitchen stuff, crafts, and other things to do with home life in the past. There's space for comments and discussion too. Please do take a look and add your thoughts.  (Comments don't appear instantly.)</blockquote> <br /> <blockquote> For sources please refer to the <a href="books.aspx" title="Books">books</a> page, and/or the excerpts quoted on the pages of this website, and note that many links lead to museum sites. Feel free to <a href="contact.aspx">ask</a> if you're looking for a specific reference - feedback is always welcome anyway. Unfortunately, it's not possible to help you with queries about prices or valuation.</blockquote> <br /> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div id="footer"> <div id="width"> <span class="floatRight"><a href="/default.aspx" title="Homepage">home</a> <span class="brown">|</span> <a href="/privacy-policy.aspx" title="Privacy policy">privacy</a> <span class="brown">|</span> <a href="/about.aspx" title="About and FAQ">about</a> <span class="brown">|</span> <a href="/books.aspx" title="Books">books</a> <span class="brown">|</span> <a href="/photocredit.aspx" title="Image and copyright details"> photo credits</a> <span class="brown">|</span> <a href="/sitemap.htm" title="Guide to website"> sitemap</a> <span class="brown">|</span> <a href="/folk-museums-uk.aspx" title="Folk Museums"> Folk Life and Social History Museums</a></span> <br /> <p align="left"> <strong>Disclaimer</strong>: We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the information provided on this website, even though it has been carefully researched. You should not rely on it for making decisions which could affect you financially or in any other way.</p> <p align="left"> Text 漏 OldandInteresting.com     <br /> Text rights reserved - please ask if you would like permission for re-use.<br /> Photograph licensing as described <a href="photocredit.aspx">here</a>.</p> </div> </div> </body> <script src="http://www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js" type="text/javascript"> </script> <script type="text/javascript"> _uacct = "UA-1596903-1"; urchinTracker(); </script> </html>

CINXE.COM

Laundry boards used by washerwomen in Italy, especially Venice