Barnaby Rudge Helping Lead the Gordon Riots

1884

Charles Green

Charles Green (British, 1840–1898)

Drawings

Barnaby Rudge Helping Lead the Gordon Riots, 1884. Charles Green (British, 1840–1898). Watercolor with traces of graphite; sheet: 25.4 x 17.6 cm (10 x 6 15/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift in memory of Helen Borowitz 2013.238 Charles Green was one of the most successful black-and-white illustrators in Victorian England, known especially for his images related to the novels of Charles Dickens. The subject of this drawing relates to the writer's historical novel Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of 'Eighty, based on the Gordon Riots. Here, Green depicted participants in an anti-Catholic protest against the Papists' Act of 1778, the most violent outpouring of religious hatred in 18th-century Britain. This drawing was never published as an illustration, but the character of Barnaby appeared in Charles Green's design for a title page for an edition of Dickens's collected works.

Original Source

Maker/Artist: Green, Charles
Classification: Drawing
Formatted Medium: watercolor with traces of graphite
Medium: watercolor, traces, graphite
Dimensions: Sheet: 25.4 x 17.6 cm (10 x 6 15/16 in.)
Inscribed: Inscription: initialed and dated, in brown ink, at lower right: CG / 1884
Departments: Drawings
Accession Number: 2013.238
Credit Line: Gift in memory of Helen Borowitz
Exhibitions: British Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art , <em>Victorian Era Exhibition, Historical and Commemorative Sections</em>. Earl's Court, London (August 1897).
Rights Statement: CC0