Biography

Born in Edinburgh, Cruikshank moved to London when he was about twenty years old, where by the late eighteenth century he was practising as a caricaturist, illustrator and painter. Alongside his contemporaries, James Gillray (1756 - 1815) and Thomas Rowlandson (1756 – 1827), he became known for his social and political satires; his subjects included members of the royal family, rulers and politicians. His two sons Robert Isaac and George were also artists, the latter most famously illustrating of the works of Charles Dickens. Cruikshank died of alcohol poisoning as a result of a drinking contest.