Les Jongleurs Indiens

Louis-Marie Lanté|Pierre de La Mésangère|Georges Jacques Gatine

1817 · Hand-colored etching and engraving · Drawings and Prints

Watched by fashionably dressed European couple, three Indian jugglers sit on a platform with one balancing a cane on his nose and spinning rings with both hands and one foot. The performers had arrived in London from Calcutta in 1813 with a troupe brought on the HMS Lord Keith by Captain Peter Campbell. Cambell first arranged private performances for the Prince Regent and other dignitaries, then installed the troupe at 87 Pall Mall and admitted the public for three shillings to performances held four times a day. These included "jugglery, acrobatics, yogic contortions, and sleight of hand," with tickets costing three shillings. This print records a performance in 1816 and was published to illustrate Le Bon Genre (1817), a book that described French life and fashion.

Artist

Louis-Marie Lanté|Pierre de La Mésangère|Georges Jacques Gatine

Date

1817

Medium

Hand-colored etching and engraving

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Gift of Jill Spalding, 2022