Image: Nestroy-Talisman-wig-scene-fashion-contrast

Description: Illustration of Johann Nestroy's play "Der Talisman" (first performed December 16th 1840), from the Vienna Theaterzeitung, apparently depicting the climactic scene when the male lead removes his wig to show his red hair underneath. The older lady is wearing the old-fashioned ca. 1820 styles of her youth, while the younger ladies are clothed in what were no doubt considered to be much more up-to-date and becoming fashions in 1840 -- seen in high-fashion form in the case of the two non-servant women on the right, and in modified form appropriate to servants in the case of the two women behind the older woman. (From the point of view of the 21st century, the older woman's clothes seem more modern than the younger women's.)
Title: Nestroy-Talisman-wig-scene-fashion-contrast
Credit: Scanned from "Johann Nestroy: Three Comedies", translated by Max Knight and Joseph Fabry (1967)
Author: unknown Vienna Theaterzeitung artist
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No