A Punch and Judy Show at a coastal village by Thomas Smythe

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Price: $2,600.00 USD  - Currency Converter Shipping inside United Kingdom: Quoted at time of purchase Shipping outside United Kingdom: Quoted at time of purchase

Description: The tale of Punch and Judy varies from puppeteer to puppeteer and has changed over time, but the outline of early 19th-century shows is usually still recognizable. It typically involves Punch behaving outrageously, struggling with his wife Judy and the Baby, and then triumphing in a series of encounters with the forces of law and order (and often the supernatural). The classic ending of the show has him upending the Devil himself, exclaiming "Huzzah huzzah, I've killed the Devil!".

All is performed in the spirit of outrageous comedy and is intended to provoke shocked laughter. Whilst the Victorian version of the show drew on the morality of its day, The Punch & Judy College of Professors considers that the 20th- and 21st-century versions of the tale have evolved into something more akin to a primitive version of The Simpsons in which a bizarre family is used as vehicle for grotesque visual comedy and a sideways look at contemporary society. “ In my opinion the street Punch is one of those extravagant reliefs from the realities of life which would lose its hold upon the people if it were made moral and instructive. I regard it as quite harmless in its influence, and as an outrageous joke which no one in existence would think of regarding as an incentive to any kind of action or as a model for any kind of conduct... ”
—Charles Dickens, The Letters of Charles Dickens Vol V, 1847 – 1849

The Punch and Judy show can trace its roots to the 16th-century Italian commedia dell'arte. The figure of Punch derives from the Neapolitan stock character of Pulcinella, which was Anglicized to Punchinello. He is a manifestation of the Lord of Misrule and Trickster figures of deep-rooted mythologies. Punch's wife was originally "Joan". May 9 1662 - the date on which the figure who later became Mr Punch made his first recorded appearance in England - is traditionally reckoned by "professors" as Punch's UK birthday. The diarist Samuel Pepys observed a marionette show featuring an early version of the Punch character in Covent Garden in London. It was performed by an Italian puppet showman, Pietro Gimonde (aka "Signor Bologna"). Pepys described the event in his diary as "an Italian puppet play, that is within the rails there, which is very pretty." In the British Punch and Judy show, Punch wears a jester's motley and is a hunchback whose hooked nose almost meets his curved jutting chin. He carries a stick, as large as himself, which he freely uses upon all the other characters in the show. He speaks in a distinctive squawking voice, produced by a contrivance known as a swazzle or swatchel which the professor holds in his mouth, transmitting his gleeful cackle— "That's the way to do it". So important is Mr Punch's signature sound that it is a matter of some controversy within Punch and Judy circles as to whether a "non-swazzled" show can be considered a true Punch and Judy Show.

Many regional variants of Pulcinella were developed as the character spread across Europe, first as a marionette, then as a glove-puppet. In Germany, Punch is called Kasperle or Kaspar while Judy is "Grete". In the Netherlands he is Jan Klaassen (and Judy is Katrijn); in Denmark Mester Jackel; in Russia Petrushka; in Romania Vasilache; and in France he has been called Polichinelle since the mid-1600s. A specific version appeared in Lyon in the early 19th century under the name "Guignol"; it soon became a conservatory of Lyon popular language. In the early 18th century, the marionette theatre starring Punch was at its height, showman Martin Powell attracting sizeable crowds at both Covent Garden and Bath, Somerset. In 1721 a puppet theatre that would run for decades opened in Dublin. The cross-dressing actress Charlotte Charke ran the successful but short-lived Punch's Theatre in the Old Tennis Court at St. James's, Westminster, presenting adaptations of Shakespeare as well as plays by herself, her father Colley Cibber, and her friend Henry Fielding. Fielding eventually ran his own puppet theatre under the pseudonym Madame de la Nash to avoid the censorship concomitant with the theatre Licensing Act of 1737.

Status: For Sale	Reference#: 3260
Condition: Good	Year: 20th Century
Country: UK	Maker: Thomas Smythe
Height: 9.45 in. (24.00 cm)
Width: 13.78 in. (35.00 cm)
Title: A Punch and Judy Show at a coastal village by Thomas Smythe	Style: Traditional
Materials: Oil on canvas

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