Sir William Nicholson's London Types was published in 1898—13 printed portraits of quintessential London characters, presented as a bound portfolio. The series included such iconic Londoners as a Beefeater, a Policeman, a News Boy, a Horse Guard, a Barmaid and a Hawker selling trinkets. Shown above, a Flower Girl—probably selling her wares in early morning Covent Garden. These prints utilized the bold and simple graphics—with lots of heavy black line—for which Nicholson was well known.
Irish playwright, George Bernard Shaw, wrote his famous play, Pygmalion, in 1912—some 14 years after this print was published. But most educated Brits were well-familiar with the Greek myth of the sculptor who fell in love with one of his creations, come-to-life. The play Pygmalion—and its leading character, Eliza Doolittle—became even more famous after Lerner and Lowe wrote the musical My Fair Lady, which opened on Broadway in 1956. Here Eliza, the Covent Garden flower girl, is taken-in by an upperclass linguist and "taught how to become a lady."
Click on the photo above to learn more about this handsome print.
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