Study of a street crier, with a donkey

Henry Bunbury belonged to the group of talented amateur artists, from the aristocracy or city bourgeoisie, whose comic art had a huge influence on professional artists such as Thomas Rowlandson. Such artists were under strong social pressure not to publish lampoons: when Henry Bunbury became equerry to the Duke of York in 1787, it was feared that members of the court might become the victims of his habit of drawing caricatures.
The work of Bunbury and his circle, however, was generally perceived as harmless fun, and as it became recognised that laughter could have a therapeutic effect, the production and sale of satirical and humorous prints flourished.
Bunbury published a number of works in his own right and like G.M. Woodward his drawings were often worked up and engraved by Rowlandson.