"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.
"A fat man stands at the door of a house chaffering with an elderly couple (left). In each hand he holds a goose by the neck. The woman holds up a third goose to her nose, with an expression of suspicious anger; her husband sniffs at it and holds out both hands in protest. The goose-vendor resembles a countryman, and wears a white apron and short gaiters. On the ground is his large basket covered with a white cloth. The house is a comer one, with a carved doorway over which is a pestle and mortar to show that it belongs to an apothecary. Behind are handsome Queen Anne or early Georgian houses; a hackney coach drives off (right)."--British Museum online catalogue.
Cries of London ; no. 7 and Old clothes any old clothes
Description:
Not in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires. and Title etched below series title and number.