Minneapolis Institute of Art

The Worship of Bacchus

George CruikshankLinkedCulture matchlcp-6d96920724dd

Date

1864

Medium

Engraving

Department

European Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Object ID

114937

At the age of 55, the prolific illustrator and social satirist George Cruikshank gave up drinking and became a leading figure in the Temperance movement. As part of his campaign to dry out Britain, he produced an enormous—more than 7 x 13 feet—painting cum manifesto, The Worship of Bacchus (1860-62). He also reproduced the image in this large engraving measuring roughly 2 x 3 feet. The image catalogues the sorry fate—the house of correction, the hospital, the workhouse, the jail, or the lunatic asylum—that awaits even those who innocently taste a drop and thereby enter the wicked realm of Bacchus, who stands triumphantly over the depravity. The present impression of the print is a rare proof before the final inscriptions and bears a large pencil signature in Cruikshank's hand. England, Europe

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