Antique Image of the Day: A Crowd Watching a Punch & Judy Show, 1801

The Victoria & Albert Museum
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This hand-colored etching and aquatint from 1801 depicts a familiar scene of a crowd of people watching a Punch and Judy puppet show.  Published in London, the drawing is the work of Ann Dibdin.  John Hill acted as the aquatinter.  Charles Dibdin was the publisher. 


Aquatint is an engraving process by which a print is created by transferring a drawing to a copper plate.  The drawing is incised into the plate using acid, then, the plate is used to make multiple prints.  In this case, Mrs. Dibdin created the drawing which was transferred to the printing plate by John Hill so that Mr. Dibdin could produce multiple copies of the image. 

Not surprisingly, this is part of the V&A’s George Speaight Punch & Judy Collection.