I’m a sucker for old images. One of my favorite blogs for getting my old-image fix is BibliOdyssey, which is like a browse through the stacks at a rare book library. The image at right comes from a post Brothers in Craft, from 15th or 16th century Germany.
Paul, BibliOdyssey’s curator, tells the story behind the nearly 30 pictures of elder craftsman he reproduces in that post. They are from the Twelve Brothers House Foundation in Nuremberg, where a “dozen elderly and unwell (but capable) citizens were (I assume) given a place to live in exchange for their performing work duties.”
The house served as a model for the commencement of similar charity foundations in other German cities.
… The practice [began] in the 15th century of having sketches made of each of the brothers engaged in their chosen employment together with detailed notes about the tools and practices relating to their work. The manuscripts were updated until (I think) the beginning of the 19th century, although portraits of craftsmen engaged in their work were only produced in the 15th and 16th centuries.
I sure wouldn’t mind being that gardener, weaving wattle fences and breaking up clods in my gray years.
More recent eye candy from other sites:
Too bad they didn’t show them in their work attire through out the project. I wonder if or when they started wearing trousers.?? Actually it would be interesting to see the work clothes of gardeners through the centuries. I have seen some with shirts and ties at big estates. I can’t imagine. Women with those long dresses at some point and time. UGH…