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| Watercolor Painting Nineteenth Century The George Speaight Archive at The Victoria & Albert Museum |
Let’s pause in our continued examination of my collection of trade cards to take a look at a rather interesting and disturbing painting which was collected by the celebrated George Speaight.
Worked in watercolor by an unknown artist and dating to the late Nineteenth Century, this drawing portrays a puppet devil and other grotesque characters. Since this is part of the V&A’s George Speaight Punch & Judy Collection, we can presume that the devil we see here was probably used as Mr. Punch’s Devil, however, the presence of the other puppet demons suggests that the painting depicts a group of figures which had many purposes.
Worked in watercolor by an unknown artist and dating to the late Nineteenth Century, this drawing portrays a puppet devil and other grotesque characters. Since this is part of the V&A’s George Speaight Punch & Judy Collection, we can presume that the devil we see here was probably used as Mr. Punch’s Devil, however, the presence of the other puppet demons suggests that the painting depicts a group of figures which had many purposes.
The work bears an inscription on the reverse. While this handwritten note doesn’t give us any idea about the origins of the painting, it does give us a little sense of its life before coming to George Speaight and ending up in the V&A.
On the back, in pencil, is written, “Puppet/ devile from Faciet/ The [illigible] Puppet/ presented by Max Joseph/ to Mary/ May 14th 1963.”
On the back, in pencil, is written, “Puppet/ devile from Faciet/ The [illigible] Puppet/ presented by Max Joseph/ to Mary/ May 14th 1963.”
Interesting. All of that meant something to someone at one point.
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