Revealing the Worlds Inside of Prints: Finding Hidden Human Geography in Old Prints

JF Ptak Science Books Post 278

 St. Gile's Cripplegate, Fore Street, London, is ostensibly the major subject of this engraving (printed in 1842 (?)), though there is a great amount of interest and art to be found in the incidental human characters sprinkled through this small (4 x 7 inch) print.  St. Giles Church (the center feature with the tower) was built in 1550 very near by old Roman ruins and basically upon the site of a Norman church.  St. Giles is an interesting guy--born, probably, in Greece, he wound up in a cave and a Saint in France, the patron of beggars breastfeeding  hermits, horses, the physically disabled and blacksmiths.The Cripplegate part has to do with, I think, the location of the church made for the ease of the physically disabled to attend.

And so it comes to pass that a double leg amputee is seen begging at lower left, hat in hand, who may or may not be getting a little relief from the approaching gentleman and lady.  They stand in front of a sign promising "Great Reduction in Gin", which I take for sales advertisement. 

Just behind this family we see a street vendor and behind her three boys who are, I hope, at play.

In the bottom right corner is a fairly elaborate stand attended by a woman with three baskets of good which must be food, judging from the interest of the little black dog.

All in all there's quite a bit of unnecessary, superfluous, lovely and detailed action in the print, a geography of small human actions:  people at work, play, in idleness, with potted plants and billowing chimneys, and just a look of a city street being lived-in. This is the category of blog entry where I've wondered why the artist bothered himself with these tertiary characters of uncommon  and unusual stature (see HERE for example). The artist could've just left the street fairly bare and essential, with couples strolling and doing, well, nothing of observable interest.  Instead, time after time, the artist have included these little jewels of observation of common life, and we are lucky to have had them do so, coming perhaps as close to a pre-photography "snapshot" as can be.

(**I'd just like to point out that the poet John Milton was laid to rest in St Giles in 1674, though (some contend)  his sleep was deeply, horribly disturbed about a hundred years later when his grave was robbed--the great poet lost a rib, had some teeth punch out, and was missing some of his hair.Undoubtedly the work of a critic. T.S. Eliot, no lover of Milton, was said to have cleaned his boots on a mat of Milton's teeth.  Just kidding (about Eliot).)

Comments

[Jeff]

Given what is at least whimsy, if not close observation, on the part of the artist or engraver, I think it's not accidental that the beggar begs beneath a sign for gin on sale. And it's hard to see the ambiguity in the wealthy couple as accidental. I mean the ambiguity in their pose, not necessarily in themselves as characters. The woman could possibly be reaching to give, but I think more likely she's leaning forward in a reflexively compassionate way but still waving him off, while the man is more than upright, actually leaning backwards, with his hand in his pocket, from which I intuit a reflex to protect his money rather than to share it. I can easily imagine a tradition of those artists constrained to work for a living as engravers taking license whenever possible, and especially in mid-19th century England or America, when "social study" was getting more politicized. And now that my morning tea is gone, I can easily see myself doing with this snapshot what we all do daily with snapshots from our lives (when we are often terribly, if usually innocently, wrong). I might glimpse a couple on the street corner and wonder if they are fighting or exchanging witty words of love. Then, I can imagine recursively someone watching me watching them, who then wonders what my interest is in that poor couple who is hard of hearing and must shout closely at each other, and then ... yes, John, it was a good, strong cup of tea.

[John Ptak]

Really? I see this differently when I read the actions. I see the woman saying something like "no" with a wag of the finger; the guy is protecting whatever he has in his pocket. Maybe this is because on that day I got questioned by three people for money on my three-bock walk t the bank, where I was going to deposit some pocket lint and a button--one guy was gonna sell me a cell phone, and another was selling a knife (?). The third just wanted beer money at 9:15. A.M.

[Jeff]

No, I think we're close on this one. I think the woman IS saying no, but just that she's leaning forward, connecting in a way that women do much more than men. I fully agree about the man ... leaning backwards, absolutely a posture of protecting what he's reaching for in his pocket. And the kid is looking around, drinking it all in. The woman could be pointing, but I see her hand as an edge view of an open hand, with the palm down, gently saying no. She also might be leaning forward speaking for the family before the man says some stupid, pompous thing for which the woman would have trouble even thinking about getting in the same bed with him later. There are many details to protecting a marriage. I may be taking great license, but I believe the artist was quite careful with all of it and would love to see the ambiguity discussed this way.