Background
George Cruikshank was born on September 27, 1792, in London, England, United Kingdom; the son of the painter Isaac Cruikshank.
George Cruikshank was born on September 27, 1792, in London, England, United Kingdom; the son of the painter Isaac Cruikshank.
Refused admittance to the Royal Academy schools, he was largely self-taught.
Although George received money for drawings as early as 1804, it was not until some six years later that he tried his hand at the caricatures for which he was to become famous.
Cruikshank illustrated more than 850 books and contributed to such publications as the Meteor, the Scourge, and the Satirist.
In his later years, Cruikshank made many drawings depicting the evils of intemperance, such as The Drunkard's Children, The Bottle, and The Gin Trap.
Collections of his works are in the British and the Victoria and Albert museums.
In 1835, Cruikshankiana appeared, containing sixty-six of his prints in one book, and in the same year, the Comic Almanack was first published, from which sprang Punch's Almanack (1853).
Among the best of his many illustrations are the famous Life in London (in collaboration with his brother); his masterly etchings for Grimm's German Popular Stories; and the 12 etchings in Richard Bentley's miscellany, which include the notable illustrations of Oliver Twist.