William Hogarth
The Cockpit
London, Boydell & Co 1795
Copper engraving
325x390mm
£480
A scene at the Cockpit Royal, Birdcage Walk. The central figure is the blind (his ragged neighbour is stealing a banknote) Lord Albemarle Bertie, second son of the 2nd Duke of Ancaster, and a member of one of the most wealthy and powerful aristocratic clans in England. The crowd is the usual mixture of gentlemen and riff raff, all frantically betting on the two fighting cocks in the centre of the ring. The Royal Cockpit was first built by Charles II, but in 1810 Christ’s Hospital refused to renew the lease and a new building was constructed in Tufton Street, Westminster . Paulson 206, only state.
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