METHUSELAH ARCHIVE / SOURCES / WELLCOME-LAMBKIN-HYDROTHERAPY-CRUIKSHANK-1844

Mr. Lambkin in bed undergoing hydrotherapy with a follower of V. Priessnitz. Lithograph by G. Cruikshank

period print · 1844
type:period print
year:1844
citation:Mr. Lambkin in bed undergoing hydrotherapy with a follower of V. Priessnitz. Lithograph by George Cruikshank, from 'The Bachelor's Own Book; being twenty-four passages in the life of Mr. Lambkin', 1844. Wellcome Collection (catalogue work cwy7wrqj; reference 12114i). Public Domain Mark. Series publication year (1844) per the British Museum catalogue (the Wellcome record for this plate is undated).
LINK
https://wellcomecollection.org/works/cwy7wrqj
SUMMARY
Wellcome Collection archival record for a satirical lithograph by George Cruikshank showing the fictional Mr. Lambkin undergoing the water cure attended by a follower of Priessnitz. The Wellcome catalogue names the artist (G. Cruikshank) and the subject of the plate, so the caption's attribution and subject description follow the archive record; the Wellcome record is undated, and the series date of 1844 is taken from the British Museum catalogue for Cruikshank's 'The Bachelor's Own Book' (Mr. Lambkin). The plate is a period artifact of the British hydropathy vogue that Priessnitz's Gräfenberg cure set off, not a documentary image of his practice. Rights status: Public Domain Mark. Source for the artifact-role media entity lambkin-hydrotherapy-cruikshank.
NOTES

This Wellcome Collection record is for George Cruikshank’s satirical lithograph of Mr. Lambkin, a fictional bachelor, undergoing the water cure attended by a follower of Priessnitz. The Wellcome catalogue supplies the artist’s name and the subject of the plate, which is the basis for the caption; the Wellcome record itself is undated, and the 1844 series date is drawn from the British Museum catalogue for Cruikshank’s “The Bachelor’s Own Book.” The plate is used as the artifact-role illustration: it documents the popular reception and satire of the Priessnitz hydropathy vogue in Britain rather than the Gräfenberg practice itself, and the caption does not present it as a record of an actual patient. The image carries a Public Domain Mark.