George Cruikshank was born in London on 27 September 1792. He became one of the best-known British caricaturists and book illustrators of the nineteenth century.

His father, Isaac Cruikshank, was an established caricaturist, and George began working as his apprentice and assistant. By the early nineteenth century, he was producing his own political and social caricatures.

His work targeted politicians, the monarchy and contemporary British life. During the 1820s, book illustration became an increasingly important part of his career. He illustrated an English edition of the Brothers Grimm’s stories and later worked with Charles Dickens.

Cruikshank illustrated Dickens’s Sketches by Boz and Oliver Twist. His drawings of characters and scenes from Oliver Twist became some of the most familiar images associated with the novel.

Cruikshank continued drawing and illustrating for decades, moving from the Georgian tradition of political caricature into the expanding Victorian market for illustrated books.