Gin Lane
Artist
William Hogarth
(English, 1697 - 1764)
Date1751, printed later
MediumEtching and engraving
DimensionsPlatemark: 15 3/8 x 12 13/16 in. (39 x 32.5 cm)
Sheet: 25 9/16 x 18 7/8 in. (65 x 48 cm)
Credit LineBequest of Robert Getscher from the Getscher-Wilkinson Collection
CultureBritish
Catalogue raisonnéPaulson 186 iii/iii
Object numberPC2014.14.276
ClassificationsPrint Collection
DescriptionScenes of death, destruction, and debauchery on a British street. In the center foreground, a woman with syphilitic sores on her legs lets her child fall to its death in an alley below, her attention consumed by a pinch of snuff. Across from her, an emaciated half-naked soldier looks on the brink of death and starvation, clutching a jar of gin, while a pamphlet entitled "The Downfall of Mdm. Gin" falls from his basket. In the background, chaos ensues. A building is in mid-collapse, a man runs through the street with a child impaled on a spike, and a naked woman is laid in a coffin. In the text below the image, Hogarth has included verses by Rev James Townley:Gin, cursed Fiend, with Fury fraught, / Makes human Race a Prey. / It enters by a deadly Draught / And steals our Life away. / Virtue and Truth, driv'n to Despair / Its Rage compells to fly, / But cherishes with hellish Care / Theft, Murder, Perjury. / Damned Cup! that on the Vitals preys / That liquid Fire contains, / Which Madness to the heart conveys, / And rolls it thro' the Veins.
This satirical print is meant to be viewed with its pair, "Beer Street," also in the collection: PC2014.14.277
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1751, printed later
2005
1966
1758
1950
