Bumpology Print
Item
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Title
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Bumpology Print
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Rights
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The British Museum, England. © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.
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Creator
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George Cruikshank (1792-1878)
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Date
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1826
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Description
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A man with a bumpy head kneels on a pillow on the floor while a phrenologist, with a larger and bumpier head, feels his skull. A man behind the phrenologist, also with a bumpy head, takes notes in a book reading "Very large wit no. 32." A woman, presumably the first man's wife, watches on with a smile. All are very well-dressed and presumably wealthy, with the phrenologist dressed similarly to a doctor or professor. All have short, upturned noses save for the phrenologist, who has a long and crooked downturned nose. A table in the foreground holds books and a bumpy skull or skull sculpture, which is labeled with various sections of the brain pertaining to character. A note by the skull reads "Thurtell - shown to be Craniologically an Excellent Character." In the background are multiple portraits and a single bust sculpture of men with bumpy skulls. Below the illustration is text reading: "Pores o'er the Cranial Map with learned eyes, Each rising hill and bumpy knoll descries, Here secret fires, and there deep mines of sense His touch detects beneath each prominence."
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Format
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Print. 27.1 x 22.5 cm.
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Language
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English.
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Publisher
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The British Museum.
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Contributor
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Aiden Lucier
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Identifier
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The British Museum. 1859,0316.188.
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Subject
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Print; phrenology; satire; comic; illustration; skulls; George Cruikshank
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Source
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Jpg file. The British Museum. 11/9/2025. https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1859-0316-188.
Bumpology