Engraved by Charles Turner after T. Blake.

1821.

Later state, the first being produced in 1818. Hand-coloured aquatint with etched outline.

This is the depiction of an exhibition sparring match held in Fives Court, in London's Little St. Martin's Street. The participants, unlike a regular, bare-knuckle bout, being fitted with gloves ("mittens" or "mufflers").

The contestants shown were Ned Turner, "The Out-and-Outer", who had killed a man in the ring, serving time for manslaughter, and Jack Randall, "The Prime Irish Lad", unbeaten throughout 12 years of ring activity. The two had fought an epic fight in 1818, which Randall won to become the Lightweight champion.

A large number of famous pugilists are pictured in the audience, not always accurately (Jem Belcher, the famed champion and the first real sporting celebrity in the modern sense, is shown, although he was dead at the time).

Provenance see: Snelgrove, British Sporting and Animal Prints, p. 48-9, color plate 5; Siltzer, pp. 319, 320, 325; Wilder, Sporting Prints, p. 178, color plate p. 179; Magriel, The Ring and the Glove, pp. 17-18.

(Laid Down).
625mm x 490mm excluding mounboard, unframed.

R10,000