Biography
Born in London, Isaac Robert Cruikshank was an illustrator, caricaturist and portrait painter. He was the older, but less well-known, brother of George Cruikshank who was also an illustrator and caricaturist for the likes of Charles Dickens. Isaac began making caricatures seriously in around 1818-9, when the fashion for dandified dressing became popular. This form of fashion was particularly easy to caricature and between 1820 and 1827, Cruikshank made around 400 images. In the late 1820s he also illustrated several books, many of them sequels, and in 1827 the two brothers collaborated on a series of ‘London Characters’. After 1830, Isaac’s productivity diminished and his health deteriorated dramatically in the late-1840s. In 1856 he caught bronchitis and died.