18th Century Men in Waistcoats

Last updated: Jan 5, 2024

Men occasionally are depicted wearing a sleeveless waistcoat without a coat over it, especially when actively engaged in physical labor or play. It’s also possible that what we interpret as men’s jackets would have been considered to be sleeved waistcoats.

Boys are sometimes depicted in their waistcoats when actively playing – climbing a tree, flying a kite, chasing a hoop, spinning a top, building a house of cards, bothering an old lady, etc.

• A country fête
• A man, seen from behind, standing by a tree and raising his hat by Paul Sandby
• The Cockpit by William Hogarth, 1759
• Men loading a boat with barrels by Samuel Scott
• Winchester Tower and the Hundred Steps by Paul Sandby, c. 1760
• Self-portrait by Johan Joseph Zoffany, 1761
• The Female Bruisers by John Collet, 1768
• The Town Gate looking westwards down Castle Hill by Paul Sandby, c. 1768
• The Newsmongers, 1769
• The Gossiping Blacksmith by Edward Penny, 1769
• Windsor Castle from a brewhouse yard in Datchet Lane by Paul Sandby, c. 1770
• The Dockyard at Portsmouth by Richard Paton, 1770
• Study of labourers and study of carpenters by John Hamilton Mortimer, 1770-1771
• Saint Monday in the Afternoon, or All Nine and Swallow the Bowl, 1770s
• The Dockyard at Chatham by Richard Paton, 1770-1777
• The Hundred Steps, Windsor Castle by Paul Sandby, c. 1770-1800
• View of Windsor Castle from Mr Isherwood's Brewhouse in Datchet Lane by Paul Sandby, c. 1770-1800
• Cobler’s Hall, 1775
• The Cabinet-Maker Enjoying his Tippling Time, 1779
• Interior of a tailor’s shop, 1780
• Depictions of agricultural laborers by George Stubbs, including Reapers (1783), Reapers (1785), Labourers (1788-1789), Haymakers (1794), Haycarting (1795), Reapers (1795)
• Le Cabaretier and Paisan de Berne, 1785
• Labourers, 1790
• The Woodyard in Windsor Great Park by Paul Sandby, 1792
• Drawings by Johann Ludwig Aberli, c. 1792, including du Canton de Zug, Vacher du Cant: de Schwitz
• Quarrelsome Taylors, or Two of a Trade seldom agree, 1793-1795
• Gentlemen Fishing by Benjamin West, 1794
• The Taylor Done Over!, 1794
• Man carrying a bundle on his back by William Marlow
• The Mower by Francis Wheatley, 1800