Old Mother Louse Hand Sketched Charcoal Framed Portrait Innkeeper Oxford Pub Art.

A framed charcoal portrait measuring 10.5” x 15” of infamous 17th Century Oxfordshire alewife known as Old Mother Louse, Keeper of ale-house, Louse Hall, near Oxford. Signed by W. Laughlin. Damage to frame as shown. Would make a wonderful display piece in a pub.

Likely based on the black-and-white engraving by David Loggan.

“A portrait of the English alewife Mother Louse of Louse Hall, holding an ale tankard and a pitcher. It is accompanied by a humorous poem and coat of arms featuring three lice and a tankard, with the motto “Three Lice Passant.”

Louse Hall (as it was known from about 1547) was an asylum for the poor, though originally it was Gosford Hospital in Oxfordshire, established in the 12th century. Louse Hall subsequently became an alehouse kept by Mother Louse as its alewife. According to legend, Mother Louse was the last English woman to wear a ruff, and the verse printed below her portrait refers to that.”