c. 1855-1860

For Sale

English, c. 1825 - 1881

Miser’s purses were frequently sold at elaborate fund-raising fairs to benefit charitable causes and organizations. Hosted by affluent women, the fairs featured lavishly decorated booths offering handmade fancywork items, such as the embroidered slipper and men’s suspenders seen in this painting. Although such events were popular throughout the nineteenth century, hostesses often received harsh criticism that claimed they used the fairs to attract the romantic attention of male attendees. In For Sale, James Collinson visualizes these accusations through his illustration of a blushing young woman and her suggestive handling of a miser’s purse (a token of romantic affection) and its rings.