Lot 533
George Cruikshank
(British, 1792-1878)
A Box of Satire, fifty six hand colored caricature prints
hand colored etchings and woodcuts on wove paper
A group of 56 etchings, engravings, and aquatints; spanning the years between 1814 and 1871; various sizes, all hand colored, laid together in a double clasped hard case print box portfolio; each protected in a matting folder. On a variety of subjects, including Napoleon, the Reign of Terror, infidelity, politics and political figures, along with many other satirical representations of French and English life.
Full list follows:
1. Snuffing out Boney.
2. France the Great Nation driven by the North into the South.
3. Polly and Lucy Taking off the Restrictions.
4. The Trip-Hell Alliance
5. Paradise Regained.
6. A Hint to the Blind and Foolish, or the Bourbon Dynasty in Danger.
7. King Richard Burlesqued or King Joly's Flight from the Battle of Vittoria.
8. Oh Get out you Wretch, Get Out.
9. La Gloire des Honnetes Gens.
10. Smoak Jack the Alarmist Extinguishing the Second Great Fire of London
11. Complements de Congres or Little Boney's Surrender to the Tars of Old England.
12. A Match for the King's Plate.
13. A Grand Manoueuvre, or the Rogues March.
14. Hard Times or O Dear What will Become of Us.
15. An Election Ball.
16. A Narrow Escape or Boney's Grand Leap.
17. Drilling 1/10th of the Military in the Manual Exercise.
18. Return to the Paris Diligence or, Boney Rode over.
19. The Corsican Shuttlrcock, or a pretty Play Thing for the Allies.
20. The Battle of Vittoria.
21. French Conscripts for the Years 1820 etc...
22. Twelfth Night or, What You Will.
23. A Dutch Toy.
24. Old Blucher Beating the Corsican Big Drum.
25. The Afterpeice to the Tragedy of Waterloo.
26. The Grand Dignitaries arriving at Warsaw covered with Glory Snow.
27. The Allied Bakers, or The Corsican Toad in the Hole.
28. The Corsican Whipping Top in Full Spin.
29. The Royal Dock Yard, or The Walnutshell Squadron.
30. Nosing the Nob at Ramsgate.
31. Inconveniences of a Crowded Drawing Room.
32. French Recruits, or A Bird's Eye View of the New Conscription.
33. Bonaparte, song written by Mr. Lawler.
34. The Hero's Return.
35. The Last March of the Conscripts, or Satan and His Satellites.
36. Old Thirty Nine shaking hands with his Good Brother the Pope of Italy.
37. The Genius of France Expounding her Laws to the Sublime People.
38. Representation of the Gull Trap...
39. The Modern Prometheus or Downfall of Tyranny
40. Portraits of Ferdinand VII & the Duke D'Angouleme- or - a Spanish Mule & a French Jack Ass.
41. Meditations amongst the Tombs.
42. Dreams of Terror, or The Vision of Louis XVIII
43. An Eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
44. The Corsican's Last Trip under the Guidance of His Good Angel.
45. Shewing Off: Bang Up Prime.
46. Boney and the Gay Lads of Paris.
47. Old Bumblehead the 18th trying on the Napoleon Boots.
48. More Trophies for White-Hall.
49. Review of the French Troops on their returning March through Smolensko.
50. Bambling in the Stocks.
51. Bang Up Dinner; or, Love and Lingo.
52. Princely Piety, or the Worshippers at Wanstead.
53. Boney, tir'd of War's Alarms, Flies for Safety to his darlings arms.
54. A French Hilt, on A Spanish Rapier !
55. Delusion : A New Farce.
56. Poor Bull an His Burden.
-
Provenance:
Footnote:
The Cruikshank family opened a print factory when George was a child, a venture in which every family member played a part. George and his brother, Robert Cruikshank, helped their father with etching, while their mother and their sister, Eliza, colored in their finished prints. Growing up working at the print factory, and with Isaac as a teacher, meant that George already had a large body of work by the time he was thirteen. He had effectively already begun a career as a political caricaturist before he was a teenager, with more than sixty separate etchings completed between 1805 and 1810 that he had either assisted with or created himself. He had begun signing his prints "G. Cruikshank" around 1808, and by then had already developed his own style. Though George was an aspiring theatre actor, his life changed when his father died in 1811 and he, like Robert, had to continue to work in the family print factory to support their mother and sister.
As breadwinner, George Cruikshank began to sell his caricatures to a monthly magazine called The Scourge, which was fueled by the tumultuous domestic and international politics of the time. George did not align with a political party, so he was easily able to provide caricatures from a relatively impartial point of view for both radical and conservative parties. The caricatures he supplied to The Scourge between 1811 and 1814 featured one large caricature in each issue, including attacks on King George III and the royal family, satirical drawings of politicians, and anti-French propaganda. Cruikshank, and other political caricaturists of the time, had a bounty of material to work with due to the accession of the Prince Regent, George IV, the scandal involving George IV's wife, Queen Caroline, and the Napoleonic War.
In 1818, Cruikshank began working with William Hone, a radical publisher and bookseller. The pair published a twenty-four page pamphlet The Political House that Jack Built, which contained political nursery rhymes written by Hone and twelve illustrations by Cruikshank. It was an immediate success and sold over 100,000 copies within a few months. For the next two years, George continued writing and illustrating pamphlets with Hone, eventually moving on to support Queen Caroline's cause (King George IV's estranged wife who returned to England to reclaim her title as Queen) with cartoons railing against King George IV. In June 1820, King George IV had apparently had enough of Cruikshank's scurrilous caricatures and paid him ?100 "not to caricature His Majesty in any immoral situation." - Dimensions: largest 12 x 19in (31 x 48cm)
- Medium: hand colored etchings and woodcuts on wove paper
- Condition: All prints unframed, laid in separate matting folders. Various degrees of age toning, staining and loss, but all remain bold and strong impressions, with quality hand coloring.
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