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Fair - Gamblers

Geikie, Walter, Etching
Fair - Gamblers
Fair - Gamblers
Fair - Gamblers
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Category
Museums & Galleries Item
Item no
31399
Title
Fair - Gamblers
Description
This fairground scene focuses on a group of men playing a primitive form of roulette. Tensions appear to be raised among the gamblers, who crowd around to watch the game. Meanwhile a lone female figure, possibly a gambler's wife, looks on from a slight distance.

Early 19th century fairs were agricultural events, where livestock was bought and sold - on the far right a man can be seen driving cattle into the distance. When this etching was reproduced in the 1841 volume Etchings Illustrative of Scottish Character and Scenery, it was accompanied by Robert Fergusson's poem Hallow Fair.
Artist / maker
Type
Location
City Art Centre