Oil paint on canvas
Tate Britain
Tate Collection
Works with images
Works on display
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/benjamin-robert-haydon-243" aria-label="More by Benjamin Robert Haydon" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Benjamin Robert Haydon</a>
Punch or May Day
Bequeathed by George Darling 1862
actions: processes and functions
adults
animals: mammals
architecture
arts and entertainment
birth to death
black
carriage
child
children
church
coachman
crime and punishment
crowd
dance
dog - non-specific
emotions and human qualities
emotions, concepts and ideas
England
entertainer
ethnicity
fair
groups
hearse
leisure and pastimes
London - non-specific
looking / watching
love
man
marriage
military
music and entertainment
people
pickpocket
places
puppet show
recreational activities
religious
sailor
sex and relationships
smoking
society
soldier
stages of life
street
townscapes / man-made features
trader
trading and commercial
transport: land
UK countries and regions
UK London
woman
work and occupations
<p>Benjamin Haydon thought of calling this painting ‘Life’, hoping to capture a cross-section of London. A hearse nearly collides with a marriage coach and the newly-weds contrast with the violent couple in the popular puppet show, Punch and Judy. Haydon made this work five years before the abolition of Slavery in the British Empire. He deliberately placed the upright Black coachman with the caricatured performance of the soot-blackened chimney sweep close together, so viewers would connect the two figures. Although he later expressed regret at his beliefs, at the time Haydon held racist ideas about racial hierarchies.</p><p><em>Gallery label, May 2023</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
26 July 2004 – 27 June 2005
2005-06-27
26 July 2004 – 27 June 2005
2005-06-27
2004-07-26
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2004-07-26
Art and National Identity
Collection based display
25 July 2005 – 26 July 2009
2009-07-26
25 July 2005
2005-07-25
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2005-07-25
Romantic Painting in Britain
Collection based display
21 November 2012 – 24 July 2022
2022-07-24
17 November 2012
2012-11-17
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2012-11-21
Gallery 10
Collection based display
Punch or May Day
support: 1505 × 1851 mm
frame: 2010 × 2270 × 165 mm
Bequeathed by George Darling 1862
<div><p><span>Benjamin Haydon thought of calling this painting ‘Life’, hoping to capture a cross-section of London. A hearse nearly collides with a marriage coach and the newly-weds contrast with the violent couple in the popular puppet show, Punch and Judy. Haydon made this work five years before the abolition of Slavery in the British Empire. He deliberately placed the upright Black coachman with the caricatured performance of the soot-blackened chimney sweep close together, so viewers would connect the two figures. Although he later expressed regret at his beliefs, at the time Haydon held racist ideas about racial hierarchies.</span></p></div>
Online caption
2024-04-22T00:00:00
online-caption
ONLINE_CAPTION
actions: processes and functions adults animals: mammals architecture arts and entertainment birth to death black carriage child children church coachman crime and punishment crowd dance dog - non-specific emotions and human qualities emotions, concepts and ideas England entertainer ethnicity fair groups hearse leisure and pastimes London - non-specific looking / watching love man marriage military music and entertainment people pickpocket places puppet show recreational activities religious sailor sex and relationships smoking society soldier stages of life street townscapes / man-made features trader trading and commercial transport: land UK countries and regions UK London woman work and occupations