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[The Blind Beggar of Bednall Green.

[The Blind Beggar of Bednall Green.Engraved from the Original Picture in the Possession of Thomas Heathcote Esq.r to whom this Plate is Dedicated by his most Obed.t Humble Serv.t W.m Ward.]

[Painted by W.m Owen. Engraved by Will.m Ward Mezzotinto Engraver to his Royal Highness the Duke of York.]
[London Pub.d April 2, 1804 by Mess.rs Wards & Co, No. 6, Newman Street.]
Mezzotint, printed in colours and hand finished. Sheet 560 x 475mm (21¾ x 18¾"). Very fine colour. Trimmed to image on all sides, title reinstated in manuscript, laid on thick paper.
A grey-haired beggar in a rustic setting, his pretty daughter standing with one had on his shoulder and the another open and outstretched. A scene from a popular Elizabethan ballad ('The Blind Beggar of Bethnall Green'), in which the beggar gives a surprisingly generous dowry for his daughter's wedding to a knight. The Blind Beggar public house in Whitechapel (infamous for its connection to the Kray twins) is reputed to be the site of his begging. A version of the ballad was recorded by Ewan McColl for the Riverside anthology 'Great British Ballads Not Included in the Child Collection'.
CS 95. Ex Collection of the Hon. Christopher Lennox Boyd. Frankau 30.
[Ref: 49971]  £280.00


 

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