The sketch depicts a scene from an eighteenth-century style ball, depicting a central couple dancing, with chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and indoor balconies containing an orchestra of musicians and other attendees of the ball in background. The sketch, originally produced as a steel engraved, was published by Hugh Cunningham in 1842.
The sketch was originally produced for the novel The Miser’s Daughter by William H Ainsworth, which George Cruikshank acted as illustrator for. Cruikshank’s seven-year partnership with Ainsworth produced substantial illustrations, far outweighing the illustrations Cruikshank had done for Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. Though the Dickens illustrations, especially that of the Fagin illustration, are better known, Cruikshank’s partnership with Ainsworth should not be ignored, as can be seen by the wide scope his illustrations reached all over the country. Cruikshank and Ainsworth ultimately collaborated on seven novels.
This object was audited and researched by a volunteer as part of the National Lottery Heritage Funded Data Hunters and Story Gatherers project.
