Robert Cruikshank (1789-1856), Going to a Fight. [Illustra]ting the Sporting World in all its variety of Style and Costume along the/ Road from Hyde Park Corner to Moulsey Hurst, 1819. Etching with aquatint and hand coloring. Box theater by Sangorski & Sutcliff. Graphic Arts 2011-
A series of eight prints by Robert Cruikshank (George’s brother) showing forty-one numbered scenes are joined together to form a panorama, reading right to left. The prints show a group of Londoners traveling to a boxing match in Moulsey Hurst (near East Molesey). Landmarks seen along the way include the White Horse Inn and the Diana Fountain at Hampton Court.
Princeton’s copy was originally in a hand-held cylinder, decorated with a hand colored and varnished print of two boxers by Cruikshank. Later, a box theater was constructed in wood and red leather so that the scroll could be viewed through a glass window. The box resembles one posted earlier for the panorama Trip to Town (GA 2005-01039). Both are embossed: E.P. Sutton & Company, Sangorski & Sutcliff.
The author of Boxiana, Pierce Egan (1772-1849), wrote Key to the picture of the fancy Going to a Fight at Moulsey-Hurst, (London, 1819) but no copy is held in graphic arts.
