Beer Street

From Freepedia

William Hogarth produced the twin engravings Beer Street and Gin Lane at the height of what became known as the London Gin Craze in 1751. They were printed at the same time as Hogarth's friend Henry Fielding published his contribution to the debate on gin: An Inquiry into the Late Increase in Robbers.

Beer Street depicts a hearty London scene - in stark contrast to the horrors of Gin Lane. In it we see plump, contented workmen drinking tankards of foaming ale, eating huge hams, flirting with women, and resting between good, honest labour. An old pawnbroker's house is boarded up and crumbling, signifying the economic benefits of drinking English beer. In an earlier version, Hogarth included a scrawny Frenchman being hoisted into the air by one of the workmen - a typical piece of Hogarthian Francophobia. The final version does, however, contain an odd inclusion. Above the resting workmen an artist looks lovingly at a tavern sign that he is painting. However, he is dressed in the rags of Gin Lane and, on closer inspection, is seen to be painting - of all things - a bottle of gin. The Beer Street artist raises some fascinating questions about what Hogarth was really trying to say in these engravings, which are otherwise pieces of stark didacticism.