Sujet

'Gin Lane', 1751. Artist: William Hogarth

Légende

'Gin Lane', 1751.The scene is the St Giles slums. A child falls to its death from the arms of its drunk mother who sits with ulcerated legs. A skeletal figure holds an empty glass. Goods are being pawned in order to buy gin, a baby is being fed with gin, a corpse is put into a coffin in the background.The pawnbroker, distiller and undertaker are the only well-off and successful people in the neighbourhood. Third of four states of plate. This print was published in support of a campaign directed against gin drinking among London's poor. Consumption of cheap spirits by the poor had soared in the early eighteenth century, with dire social consequences. Gin inspires violence and careless inebriation. Addiction to spirits leads to negligence, poverty and death.

Date

1751

Crédit

Photo12/Heritage Images/City of London : The London Archives

Notre référence

HRM19A75_455

Model release

NA

Property release

NA

Licence

Droits gérés

Format disponible

49,9Mo (3,4Mo) / 32,1cm x 38,9cm / 3795 x 4598 (300dpi)

Mots clés

London England drink female women woman people child children job family baby babies fall danger dangerous occupation alcohol bleak mother despair death poor poverty addiction motherhood Westminster fallen century falling profession desperation drunk lady concept abuse issue drunkenness B&W gin slum distiller MONOCHROME metaphor oblivion oblivious undertaker mum black & white black and white B W 18th century Eighteenth Century City of Westminster Guildhall Library & Art Gallery demon drink down and out pawnbroker rack and ruin TGN satire engraving William Hogarth W Hogarth William Hogarth;Hogarth William;W Hogarth Hogarth William