Friday, June 6, 2014

Object of the Day, Museum Edition: Punch and the Baby, 18th-19th C.



Mr. Punch and the Baby
Hand-colored Engraving
The George Speaight Archive at
The Victoria & Albert Museum



From the George Speaight Punch and Judy Archive at the Victoria & Albert Museum, we have this hand-colored (with watercolor) engraving of Mr. Punch. The engraving is difficult to date, and therefore it’s been assigned to a range between the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century. 


We don’t know the publisher nor do we know the artist. What we do know is that it’s cute—in its innately Punchy way. In this scene from the traditional Punch & Judy show, we see Mr. Punch happily sending the baby out the window. 

The image is part of a set which, at some point, was pasted onto colored paper along with other Punch-related ephemera.  



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