Victorian graffito
Maker: Unknown proletariat
Obscene, Victorian graffito, c.1865
Slate on slate, 153cm x 122cm
Museum no: I. 186
In the nineteenth century, slate was a commonly used material for roofs and walls alike. This slate wall panel contains a rare example of Victorian graffito. After the great slum clearances, many of these walls disappeared but, due to its subject matter, the item made its way to The Keeper’s collection.
John Addington Symonds, the well-known historian, refers to happening upon the emphatic diagram while wandering ‘the sordid streets’ of London. The encounter has such an impact on him that he describes it as ‘so penetrative a character – so thoroughly the voice of vice and passion in the proletariat – that it pierced the very marrow of my soul.’
The date of the piece coincides with an amendment to the Offences against the Person Act 1861, replacing the death penalty for buggery with ten years imprisonment.
KEEPER’S NOTES: This bona varding, swishing Molly will not fail to turn your oysters up.
A cross-dressing milkman who regularly visited the city's many molly houses, Gabriel was convicted and hanged for the act of sodomy in 1726. Gabriel’s close friend, the potter Thomas Tyler, created the original work in tribute to his life and spirit.
The figurine of Gabriel is now lovingly remade by third-generation makers in Stoke-on-Trent. It portrays Gabriel in classic Rococo style, imitating delicate pastoral designs favoured by the famous Bow Porcelain Factory. Assembled by hand and decorated using traditional techniques, each piece is unique in its finishing.
*Limited edition
READ GABRIEL'S STORY