Plate V

From the Bar of the Gin Shop to the Bar of the Old Bailey it is but One Step, 1848

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Gift of Mrs. Thirza J. Clevelandexpand_more  P.94.14.5

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In 1847, satirist George Cruikshank issued a series of low-cost prints, entitled The Bottle, which encouraged Britons – particularly the working poor – to renounce alcohol. The Bottle depicted a fictional family ravaged by alcoholism: the father is committed to an asylum, an infant dies, and the mother is murdered.

The following year, Cruikshank issued an eight-part sequel, The Drunkard’s Children, from which this print derives. The series charted the courses of the family’s orphaned son and daughter. Among their misadventures are drinking, gambling, theft, and a visit to the courthouse where the brother is sentenced to life imprisonment in Australia, then a penal colony.

A former heavy drinker, Cruikshank joined the temperance movement around the time he produced The Drunkard's Children; in 1856 he became vice president of the National Temperance League. While Cruikshank saw alcohol as a cause of crime and misery, many of his contemporaries regarded its abuse as a symptom of poverty.

Details
Title
From the Bar of the Gin Shop to the Bar of the Old Bailey it is but One Step
Artist Life
1792 - 1878
Role
Artist
Accession Number
P.94.14.5
Provenance
Thirza Cleveland, Minneapolis; given to MIA, 1994.
Catalogue Raisonne
C.195
Curator Approved

This record has been reviewed by our curatorial staff but may be incomplete. These records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about this object, please email collectionsdata@artsmia.org.

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Plate V