Excluidos - History Lab https://historylab.es Fri, 20 May 2022 07:37:51 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 https://historylab.es/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-icono-historylab-32x32.jpg Excluidos - History Lab https://historylab.es 32 32 Margaret Finch, Queen of the Norwood Gypsies https://historylab.es/margaret-finch-queen-of-the-norwood-gypsies/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=margaret-finch-queen-of-the-norwood-gypsies Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:31:28 +0000 https://historylab.es/2022/02/19/margaret-finch-reina-de-los-gitanos-de-norwood/ Gypsies in England

The post Margaret Finch, Queen of the Norwood Gypsies first appeared on History Lab.

]]> Gypsies arrived in the British Isles between 1430 and 1440, in the first wave to invade Europe, and almost immediately they were vigorously harassed through legislation, threats and punishment. However, their situation changed around the 17th century and since then the Gypsies have lived in relative tranquillity in various clans. Although it is not common to find Gypsies with their own name, in England in the middle years of the 18th century, one Gypsy, Margaret Finch, was very well known. There are engravings of her with a legend at the bottom where she is called “Queen of the Norwood Gypsies” and is said to be 108 years old. She wears a turban, a blanket and has her legs folded across her chest, a position so common for her that at the end of her life she was unable to stand up. She smokes a long pipe, receives the company and affection of two dogs and has at her feet a cup intended to receive alms or payment for her predictions. It was in itself a spectacle in which people could contemplate, present and conceptualised, one of the existing images of the gypsy imaginary: that of the deformed and ungraceful old gypsy witch.

The post Margaret Finch, Queen of the Norwood Gypsies first appeared on History Lab.

]]> Recua and gypsies in a forest https://historylab.es/recua-and-gypsies-in-a-forest/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=recua-and-gypsies-in-a-forest Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:30:19 +0000 https://historylab.es/2022/02/19/recua-y-gitanos-en-un-bosque/ Landscape with Figures in oil by Jan Brughel the Elder. Prado Museum (Madrid)

The post Recua and gypsies in a forest first appeared on History Lab.

]]> This oil on copper by the Flemish painter Jan Brueghel the Elder dates from the early 16th century, when his views, forests and panoramic landscapes became more realistic and his work is rich in details of great technical quality. Throughout the 17th century nature had become the ideal setting for the depiction of gypsies, a wandering group that had been moving around Europe since the early 1400s. Brueghel depicts the subject by depicting a lush forest in the foreground, to the left of which opens diagonally into a wide valley painted in blue. The gypsy women are strategically positioned on a path of obligatory passage that allows them to approach passers-by and their wares. The one seated with the child in her arms covers her head with a bern, a circular hat made of a wicker base and interwoven fabrics, which was very characteristic of Gypsy women’s clothing until the mid-17th century. The rest of the women wear a simple scarf tied around their heads. Although Gypsy women were usually barefoot, Brueghel depicted them wearing shoes, with the exception of the boy who walks without shoes. Several of them carry walking sticks to help them on their way.

The post Recua and gypsies in a forest first appeared on History Lab.

]]>