Wig Shop Interiors, Peruke Makers, and Barbers in the 18th Century

Last updated: Jan 7, 2024

This page provides images of the goings-on inside wig shops in the 18th century – barbers shaving their customers, and making and fitting perukes for gentlemen clients. (While hairdressing was a part of this trade, I’m planning on working on a separate page on that topic.) There’s a separate section that focuses on wig stands.

The British Museum also has trade cards for several 18th century peruke makers, including Richard Arkwright, T. Bowman, Cryer, Mathieu, Michalon, Miller, and Ravenscroft.

• Interior of a barber’s shop drawn by Jean Duplessi-Bertaux, c. 1747-1819
• The Barber by Marcellus Laroon the Younger, c. 1760-1769
• Wigmaker, barber, bath-keeper (Perruquier, barbier, baigneur-étuviste) in the Encyclopedia of Diderot & d’Alembert, 1771; see also Wigmaking
• The City Tonsor, 1771
• The Village Barber, L.M. L’Inghilterra, 1772
• The Patriotick Barber by Francis Edward Adams, 1772
• The French Man in London from an original drawing by Martin, 1772
• The Shaver and the Shavee, 1772
• The English Shaver or Frenchman in the Suds, 1772
• Quidnunc, or the Upholsterer Shaving, 1772
• The Patriotick Barber of New York, or the Captain in the Suds, 1775
• English Barber, Carrying home a Common Councilman’s Wig, 1777
• The Village Barber by Matthew Darly, 1778
• The barber’s shop, 18th century
• Bob Foster, the Cambridge Flying Barber, c. 1780
• Intelligence on the Change of the Ministry, 1783
• Feeling, 1784
• Tragedy Burlesqued, or the Barber turned Actor, 1785-1790
• Le Perruquier du Village (The Village Wig-Maker), c. 1788-1835
• A Country Barbers Shop, 1789
• Shave for a penny, hair dres’t for two pence, and a glass of gin into the bargain by Thomas Prattent, 1793
• The Patent Wigg by S W Fores, 1793
• A Barbers Shop by Thomas Rowlandson
• The Barbers Shop
• Damn the Barber
• Lust tot Onderzoek, c. 1800-1805
• The Shaver and the Shavee, 1801
• A Barbers Shop in Assize Time, 1818

Also of interest: late 19th century depictions of 18th century wig shops by Luis Jimenez y Aranda and Maurice Leloir.

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Wig stands

• V&A T.217-1914, 18th century
• Wigs and wig stands displayed at the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum
• A Rare Colonial Wig Stand with Carved Head, 18th century
• V&A W.163&A-1921, a pair of wig stands with octagonal bases of pine veneered with oyster patterns in olive wood and geometrical lines of holly, made in England c. 1700-1740
• V&A 831-1883, a wig stand in Canton enamel, made in Guangzhou c. 1723-1735
• V&A W.22-1939 a mahogany wig-stand in two parts that slot together or come apart to pack flat for travel, made in England c. 1780-1800