A Barber's Shop

Thomas Rowlandson

Cleveland Museum of Art

The image depicts a barber shop scene. A man sits in a barber chair, with a white cloth around his neck. A barber to his right pulls on his hair with one hand and uses the other to cut it with scissors. A second man in a black top hat sits on the arm of the chair, holding the seated man's mouth open. A third man in a white apron stands to the seated man's right, holding a fork and knife and appearing to scrape or examine the man's teeth. A woman with a child sits to the left, the child also in a chair with a white cloth around him. A dog lies on the floor beside the chair, and two cats stand nearby. A man with his hand on his neck stands to the right. Several other people are present in the background. There are two mirrors on the walls. A staircase leads up to another level. The image is in black and white.