George Cruikshank's "The Worship of Bacchus" has not been displayed in public for nearly 100 years. Brought back into view, it offers a unique vision of mid-nineteenth-century Britain, its manners, morals, vices and hypocrisies, and the ideals of those who sought to change them. It also bears testimony to the inventiveness and beliefs of Cruikshank, a remarkable figure too often left out of conventional histories of British art. Cruikshank was teetotaler, and intended "Bacchus" to sum up his passionately held beliefs about the social damage drink could cause, and to convert all who saw it to total abstinence. Teeming with figures, the picture meticulously catalogs all the horrors of alcohol. In this fascinating new stufy Robert Upstone reassesses this forgotten work, and place it in the context of Cruikshank's life and career, and also within the wider phenomena of the Victorian temperance movement and debates about social regulation and responsibility.

George Cruikshank's "The Worship of Bacchus" in Focus

Robert Upstone

Christopher Holden

Arts & Photography

Tate Publishing

This book, which accompanies a retrospective exhibition at the Imperial War Museum London in January 2005, reappraises an artist who, at the time of his death in 1931, was probably the best-known painter in Britain. The book reveals the full variety of William Orpen's work from his highly accomplished portraits, his revitalization of the nude and the conversation piece, to his extraordinary allegories and war paintings. It analyzes the series of self-portraits, many mocking his own character with a mixture of humor and bitterness, that are a particular feature of his oeuvre. His experiences as an official war artist in France from 1917 to 1919 made him cynical of politicians. Although he painted brilliant portraits of these very men, and of generals and war heroes, he also produced some bitter allegories of war. The war years form the climax of both the book and the exhibition.

William Orpen: Politics Sex and Death

History & Criticism

Imperial War Museum

<p>With his grand scale and richly colored canvases and studies, John William Waterhouse (1849-1917) was one of the most influential painters of the 19th century. In this brilliantly illustrated survey, edited by a leading Waterhouse scholar, the painter's seductive vision of femininity is captured in sumptuous reproductions and illuminated by an engaging and informative text.<br>Published to accompany an important exhibition of the artist's work, the book explores Waterhouse's creative responses to such contemporary concerns as medievalism, the classical tradition, and spiritualism. A comprehensive examination of his life and work, including his well-known painting The Lady of Shallott, this volume explores also the artist's connection to the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and his engagement with French art of the period.</p>

J. W. Waterhouse: The Modern Pre-Raphaelite

Elizabeth Prettejohn

Peter Trippi

Patty Wageman

Reference

Royal Academy Books

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Books by Robert Upstone