{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1137634"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1137634/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2010EG1471/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2010EG1471/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2010EG1471","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1137634/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1137634","accessionNumber":"S.4778-2009","objectType":"Print","titles":[{"title":"H Beard Print Collection","type":"named collection"}],"summaryDescription":"Print entitled <i>The House that Jack Built</i>. Published in London by S.W. Fores in September 1809.\r\n\r\nAfter the destruction of the Covent Garden Theatre by fire in December 1808 and its rebuilding in 1809, John Philip Kemble, the manager of the theatre, raised the price of tickets to compensate for the cost of the theatre's reconstruction. This and the creation of privately hired theatre boxes caused riots, known as the Old Price Riots, that lasted three months and ultimately forced Kemble to reduce the number of private boxes and restore the 'old prices'. This print, parodying the nursery rhyme This is the House that Jack Built, is a satire on the riots. The Cat is Italian soprano Angelica Catalani who had been engaged for a substantial fee, leading to complaints that prices had been increased in order to pay for her.","physicalDescription":"Etched and hand coloured print entitled 'The House that Jack Built'.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Cruikshank, Isaac","id":"A2102"},"association":{"text":"artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"S. W. Fores","id":"A13374"},"association":{"text":"publisher","id":"x32600"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"paper","id":"x30308"},{"text":"printing ink","id":"AAT187371"},{"text":"wash","id":"AAT11051"}],"techniques":[{"text":"print-making","id":"AAT131119"},{"text":"etching (corroding)","id":"AAT53840"},{"text":"painting","id":"x30598"},{"text":"hand-colouring","id":"AAT133555"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"hand coloured etching, ink and wash on paper","categories":[{"text":"Entertainment & Leisure","id":"THES48959"},{"text":"Prints","id":"THES48903"},{"text":"Scotland","id":"THES262877"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":["2010EG1471"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"008","id":"THES356577"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"prints","id":"AAT41273"}],[{"text":"etchings","id":"AAT41365"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"published","id":"x30682"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"28th September 1809","earliest":"1809-09-28","latest":"1809-09-28"},"association":{"text":"published","id":"x30682"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"S.4707-2009","id":"O1137250"},"association":"Version"},{"object":{"text":"S.4708-2009","id":"O1137251"},"association":"Version"},{"object":{"text":"S.4706-2009","id":"O1137225"},"association":"Version"}],"creditLine":"Harry R. Beard Collection, given by Isobel Beard","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"28.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Print size","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"37.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Print size","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"In 1808 Covent Garden Theatre was rebuilt following a fire. The rebuilding cost was £300,000 and, even with £76,000 raised by public subscription, a gift of £10,000 from the Duke of Northumberland, and the insurance settlement of between £44,000 and £60,000, there remained a large shortfall. To increase revenue, the management reconfigured the upper gallery to squeeze in more of the one shilling seats, creating what angry patrons described as ‘pigeon holes’. The price for a seat in the pit was raised from 3s. 6d. to four shillings, and the admission to the public boxes went up from six to seven shillings. A whole tier of boxes became ‘private’ and could only be hired by the season. \r\n\r\nAudiences were furious and directed their anger towards the theatre’s manager, the actor John Philip Kemble (1757–1823). On 18 September 1809 Kemble stepped on stage in the costume of Macbeth to welcome the audience to the first production in the new theatre, and was met with a barrage of shouting, hissing and hooting which continued throughout the performance. Although magistrates were summoned, and some protestors arrested, the disturbance did not end until two in the morning. This was the start of what were known as the Old Price (or O.P.) Riots. For the next ten weeks every performance at Covent Garden was disrupted by protests. The principal objective of the protestors was to force the management to restore the old system of pricing, feeling that the rises infringed upon their civil liberties. John Philip Kemble employed Jewish boxers as bouncers to help to subdue the protestors. This led to a proliferation of anti-Semitic depictions of the non-Jewish Kemble, and placed the riots within a wider narrative of racial conspiracy that existed in 19th-century London. \r\n\r\nBy December 1809 the cost of legal fees, wages for the bouncers, and free passes for allies who were paid to chant ‘N.P.’ (New Price), meant that the theatre was losing £300 per night. Kemble capitulated and made a public apology. It was agreed that the private boxes would be returned to public use and the pit would again be priced at 3s 6d. The protestors did not secure a complete victory, however. A seat in a box remained at the increased price of seven shillings and the ‘pigeon holes’ were retained.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Print entitled 'The House that Jack Built'. Published in London by S. W. Fores on 28th September 1809, Harry Beard Collection.","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Kemble, John Philip","id":"N2478"},{"text":"Catalani, Angelica","id":"N8176"},{"text":"John Bull","id":"N4666"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[{"text":"Old Price Riots (OP Riots)","id":"V735"}],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["S.4778-2009"],"accessionNumberNum":"4778","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":2009,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"H Beard collection numbering","id":"THES50444"},"number":"F.118-52"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-16","recordCreationDate":"2009-09-29","availableToBook":true}}