A famous perceptual illusion in which the brain switches between seeing a young girl and an old woman (or "wife" and "mother
in law"). An anonymous German postcard from 1888 (left figure) depicts the image
in its earliest known form, and a rendition on an advertisement for the Anchor Buggy
Company from 1890 (center figure) provides another early example (IllusionWorks).
For many years, the creator of this figure was thought to be British cartoonist W. E. Hill,
who published it in 1915 in Puck humor magazine, an American magazine inspired
by the British magazine Punch (right figure). However, Hill almost certainly
adapted the figure from an original concept that was popular throughout the world
on trading and puzzle cards.
