"One of a set of eight plates, No. 7 (not mentioned by Grego) being missing, all having the same signatures. They may have been intended to burlesque Wheatley's 'Cries' (1793-7), from which they appear to derive. [The subjects are different from those of Wheatley, and there is no element of copying, but the group, with sentimental or humorous incident and architectural background, was Wheatley's innovation on the traditional single figure representing the 'Cries of London'. Cf. W. Roberts, 'The Cries of London', 1934, p. 12.] A ragged man, with traps of various patterns slung round him, and a trap in each hand, offers his wares to an old man (left) who looks from his bulk or stall, on which are a bird in a wicker cage and a rabbit in a hutch. A little boy and girl, hand in hand, stare intently at the rabbit. A dog snarls at two rats in one of the traps. A woman looks down from a casement window over the pent-house roof of the stall. In the background are a church spire and the old gabled houses characteristic of the slums of St. Giles and Westminster."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below series title and number., 1 print : etching with aquatint border on wove paper, hand-colored ; sheet 31 x 22 cm., Sheet trimmed within plate mark with loss of imprint., State with border removed., and Double window-mounted to 34 x 26 cm.
Publisher:
Pub. Jan. 1t., 1799, at R. Ackermann's, 101 Strand
Subject (Topic):
Birdcages, Children, Dogs, Houses, Men, Mousetraps, Peddlers, Prostitutes, Rabbits, Rats, and Street vendors
