This black and white print is the first of eight scenes drawn by George Cruikshank depicting the progressive degeneration of a family due to the evils of drinking. The print depicts an interior scene of a man, a woman, and three children. The family is depicted as happy and healthy in an orderly home. The man and woman are seated at a table; the man is pouring a drink for the woman. They are surrounded by comfortable, middle-class furnishings that include a fireplace with stove insert, pictures on the wall including one depicting a church and china figurines above the mantle. The tall case clock indicates the passing of the mid-day meal. A cat and a kitten play by the fire near the two younger children. This series is a folio edition. On the reverse of Plate I. is the title page of the series and an inscription from the artist, including the cost of one shilling or six shillings for prints block tinted for shading on finer paper. The series is contained in a portfolio.
This series of prints is by the English artist George Cruikshank (1792-1878). Cruikshank’s father, Isaac Cruikshank, was an artist who specialized in song sheets and caricatures and trained George and his brother Robert Cruikshank in these arts. George started as a caricaturist for magazines and children’s books. His most famous works included <i>The Bottle</i> series and <i>The Drunkard’s Children</i> series, designed, and etched by Cruikshank to show the wickedness of alcohol. Following in the tradition of earlier artists, like the 18th century painter William Hogarth, Cruikshank used storytelling techniques to create these works, which contained plots, recurring characters, and symbolic background details. Cruikshank's father and brother were both alcoholics and he himself drank heavily until he took a vow of abstinence in 1847. These prints were published by David Bogue, who published most of Cruikshank’s works in the 1850s. David Bogue (1807–1856) was born in Scotland and moved to London in 1836. Bogue began working in Charles Tilt's bookshop as a publisher and bookseller in 1836 and became Tilt's partner in 1840. Bogue bought the shop in 1843. He was the principle publisher of Cruikshank’s short-lived periodicals, brief illustrated stories, and the <i>Comic Almanack 1835-53.</> David Bogue published <i>The Bottle</I>series in 1847. Bogue suffered from heart disease and died in 1856 at the age of 48.
