Kay Smallshaw devotes an entire chapter to the complexities of 'Doing the Washing' in her 1949 book How to Run Your Home without Help. These days, however, cleaner air and washing machines make it easier, and many people now would be satisfied with a washing line and a sunny summer's day. This is Washing on the Line (early C20, Surrey Heath Museum) by Percy Harland Fisher (1867-1944).