George Cruikshank

George Cruikshank (born September 27, 1792, London, England—died February 1, 1878, London) was an English artist, caricaturist, and illustrator who, beginning his career with satirical political cartoons and later illustrating topical and children’s books, became one of the most prolific and popular masters of his art.

His father was Isaac Cruikshank (1756?–1811), a popular illustrator and caricaturist. In 1811, when George was still in his teens, he gained popular success with a series of political caricatures that he created for the periodical The Scourge, a Monthly Expositor of Imposture and Folly. This publication lasted until 1816, during which time Cruikshank came to rival James Gillray, the leading English caricaturist of the preceding generation. For the next 10 years Cruikshank satirized with fine irreverence the political policies of the Tories and the Whigs.

Although Cruikshank continued to publish political cartoons in periodicals and separately until about 1825, he began to do book illustrations as well in 1820. In these he showed his more genial side. It is estimated that he illustrated more than 850 books, and he was one of the first artists to provide humorous, spirited illustrations in books for children. Perhaps his most famous book illustrations were for the novelist Charles Dickens in the latter’s Sketches by “Boz” (1836–37) and Oliver Twist (1838). Cruikshank published a number of books himself, notably his serial The Comic Almanack (1835–53). In the late 1840s he became an enthusiastic propagandist for temperance, publishing a series of eight plates entitled The Bottle (1847) and its sequel, eight plates of The Drunkard’s Children (1848). Between 1860 and 1863 he painted a huge canvas titled The Worship of Bacchus.