Description:
Etching entitled "The Butcher" by George Bickham, the younger. In the foreground stands an ox skin arranged in an upright position and embellished with the tools of the butcher's trade, while stockmen and dogs drive an ox in the background. Below the view are humorous descriptive verses. This is a caricature or satire on butchers showing the head of a calf as a butcher holding an axe and a cleaver, with a meat tray as a breastplate, a candle in his hat, and a steel hanging from his apron. In the background, the enclosure of Smithfield market (with street lamps against the fences) in which a group of men with sticks and dogs chase a runaway ox; the entrance to St Bartholomew's hospital and the distant dome of St Paul's Cathedral beyond. Enclosed in a delicate frame a sheep's fleece hanging between verses below; these allude to the butcher's manly strength and his wife's consequent faithfulness. Condition: some spotting and staining, some marginal repaired closed tears, laid on later backing card; A different version of this print was reworked by Bickham after 1745 Scottish Rising to refer to Prince William Augustus, the Duke of Cumberland. See British Museum, 1868,0808.3806. Cumberland became known as the "Butcher" following the violent repression of the Scottish Highlands after the battle of Culloden in April 1746.
Subjects:
Etching Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2017.36.1 |
