The Enraged Politician or the Sunday Reformer or a Noble Belman crying stinking fish

Isaac Cruikshank the Elder

The enraged politician or the Sunday reformer or a noble belman crying stinking fish

London, S W Fores, 25^th June 1799

Etching

Original hand colouring

260 x 385 mm

Trimmed within platemark

£250

A design influenced by Hogarth’s ‘The Enraged Musician’.

A street scene. Lord Belgrave leans from a window, a large Bible in one hand, the other resting on the sill and on an ‘Act to Prevent Sabbath Breaking among the Poor’. He glares down at a noisy crowd which fills the space between his house and a house where through two wide-open sash-windows are visible the performers in a private and fashionable concert: two vocalists scream, accompanied by a lady pianist and by two violins, a ‘cello, and flute. ‘Milbank’, on the street corner, indicates Grosvenor House.
The crowd chiefly consists of newsboys who scream and blow their horns. A boy with the ‘[Sunda]y Observer’ screams “Bloody Great News”, looking up at Belgrave. A man with Ninth Edition displayed on his hat shouts “Bloody News – Great News from General S’warro”, but holds up the ‘Sunday Reformer’, inscribed ‘The Trial of L. G. [Lady Grosvenor] for Adultry’ [for the sensational suit of ‘crim. con.’ brought in 1770 by Belgrave’s father against the Duke of Cumberland. There are six others, with the inscribed caps worn by newsboys: the ‘Volunter’ [sic], ‘Informer’, ‘Sun[day] Moniter’ blow horns; two ‘Sunday Review’ boys scream “Bloody News”, as does ‘Bells weekly Messenger’. A milkmaid with her pails screams “Milk” below; a man with milk-pails: “Milk, pretty Maids”. Two fish-wives shout “New Mackarel” and Mackarel; one of these wears a military coat