Washing and drying clothes have been important activities in many landmark paintings. Selection from Isabey, Boudin, Gauguin, Renoir and others.
Metsu
From their genre roots in the Dutch Golden Age, through Géricault and Courbet, to the social realism of Millet, Manet, and most of all Lhermitte.
The majority of portraits and genre paintings of women washing clothes are thoroughly demur, without the slightest innuendo.