Soldiers Playing at Cards, from "Illustrated London News" 1861

This is William Luson Thomas’s engraving, Soldiers Playing at Cards, made for the "Illustrated London News". Consider the culture of print media in England at this time and how publications catered to a burgeoning middle class with an appetite for images of both the familiar and the foreign. Here, Thomas reproduces a painting by L. Ruiperez, possibly from the French Exhibition, allowing the viewer to partake in the cultural life of another country. But what does it mean to translate a painting into a widely disseminated print? The scene depicts soldiers, of differing ranks indicated by their uniforms, gambling in what appears to be a tavern. We can imagine Victorian readers intrigued by the depiction of leisure and perhaps, vice. The art historian considers the politics of imagery, researching the exhibition history, the biographies of the artists, and the social and economic context of printmaking to better understand the values that underpinned the creation and consumption of such images.