Engraving depicting "Punch and the Cat" George Cruikshank The Victoria & Albert Museum |
Some of the earliest, most accurate and famous drawings we have of the
Nineteenth Century Punch & Judy shows in Britain are those created by the
celebrated illustrator George Cruikshank (1792-1878).
Here, we see an engraving after one of Cruikshank’s renowned
drawings. The print crisply depicts not
only the Punch & Judy performance, but also, the audience. Here, we see Punch and the Cat in a booth in
the upper center. Some Punch & Judy
Professors in the Nineteenth Century used a cat in lieu of the Dog Toby. At the time, many Punch & Judy men still
employed real animals as Punch’s companion as opposed to puppet
counterparts. If a dog was unavailable,
Mr. Punch was joined by a cat.
No comments:
Post a Comment