Two bunches a penny Primroses, two bunches a penny

One of a series of engravings derived from a set of paintings by Francis Wheatley entitled The ‘Cries of London’. ‘Two bunches a penny primroses!’ features an attractive street vendor selling bunches of primroses. Wheatley’s paintings of the ‘Cries’ were exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1792 and 1795 and were extremely popular. As the paintings attracted a large amount of attention Colnaghi agreed to publish a set of engravings, of which this is one.

They portrayed a range of idealised street vendors selling a range of goods including primroses, milk, oranges, matches, mackrel, cherries and peas, highlighting the fact that these street sellers advertised their goods with a musical shout or a melodic rhyme. They present a sanitised view of the London streets and through their frequent reproduction are in part responsible for the persistence of this romanticised view life on the London streets.