Hogarth

Beer Street and Gin Lane are both pieces about drinking culture. Made at the height of the gin epidemic where the gin related alcoholism was at it's peak. These two were made as contrasting ideals for the different drinking cultures promoting the advantages of beer and marring the culture of gin drinking.

Beer Street

This print is laced with obvious symbols and metaphors for the advantages of beer over gin. Symbols like the girl holding a key represented access to the good life. Workers drink beer whilst they work and trade is high where beer is drunk, the citizens are fat and healthy apart from the scraggly gin advertiser (painter) who's clothes are torn. The church steeple rising in the back show an air of virtue amongst the people.

Gin Lane

Here is a scene of chaos amongst the lower classes where the Gin addiction has taken over, children are forgotten about, citizens either pawning or have pawned all of their worldly goods and clothes to pay for their addiction. Not only do individuals show their own personal addictions but mothers feeding gin to their infants show Hogarth's sense that it was a socially bred issue. 

The buildings are either falling down or in disarray except the profiteers of the misery: the distilery, funeral house and pawnbroker.

Here is recent homage to the original, in this case focussing much more on how british culture does not value its children.