The Laundresses (Les Blanchisseuses), 1879, Edgar Degas, French, 1834 - 1917, 4 5/8 × 6 1/4 in. (11.75 × 15.88 cm) (image)4 11/16 × 6 5/16 in. (11.91 × 16.03 cm) (plate)8 1/2 × 11 3/4 in. (21.59 × 29.85 cm) (sheet), Etching and aquatint, France, 19th century, In the 1800s, many artists began to depict the lives of people who worked with their hands for a living. In The Laundresses, Edgar Degas depicts women working and resting in a dank, melancholic space. In the left foreground, one rests, warming herself near a stove with a pyramidal top used to warm irons. At the lower right are large bundles of laundry. In the middle ground, two women work at the ironing board. In an adjacent room in the background, two woman stand in the shadows. In the far room, through the opening above the ironing board, we may be seeing steam rising from the washtubs. Shadowy garments hang to dry from lines above.