George Cruikshank

Calinda Shely (Northern Arizona University)

Ed. by Grace Moore, University of Otago
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.07: English Writing and Culture of the Victorian Period, 1837-1901.
Vol. editors: Gillian Fenwick (University of Toronto), Jessica E. Gossling (Goldsmiths College, University of London), Grace Moore (University of Otago)

Dates

Born 27 Sep 1792
Died 1 Feb 1878
Activity 1812-1878

Places

Born in England
Active in England

Activities

Primary

Caricaturist
Illustrator

Resources

George Cruikshank was a nineteenth-century British artist, engraver, and illustrator. He is best-known for his political graphic satires, book illustrations, temperance propaganda pieces The Bottle (1847) and its sequel The Drunkard’s Children (1848), and the enormous oil painting The Worship of Bacchus (1862). Praised as “the modern Hogarth”, he produced over 10,000 works in his lifetime. Other notable artistic influences include Rowlandson, Gillray, and Woodward, noted satirists of the late-eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

Cruikshank was the second son of Isaac and Mary (MacNoughton) Cruikshank, born on 27 September, 1792 in London. Isaac, a Scottish artist and engraver, was well-known for his works of graphic satire as well, and it was under his tutelage that George and his elder brother Isaac Robert learned the skills of painting, etching, drawing, and engraving in the busy shop....

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1502 words

Citation: Shely, Calinda. "George Cruikshank". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 June 2021 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1086, accessed 25 August 2026.]