One of a group of works produced by Zinkeisen during her time as a Red Cross artist. The 'human laundry' consisted of about twenty beds in a stable where German nurses and captured soldiers cut the hair of the inmates, bathed them and applied anti-louse powder before they were transferred to an improvised hospital run by the Red Cross. The tension in the composition lies in the enforced dealings between the emaciated and feeble former inmates and the healthy medical staff treating them.
