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1888: Walter Sickert made a name for himself as a painter in Victorian London. Did he also make a name as Jack the Ripper?
1888: Walter Sickert made a name for himself as a painter in Victorian London. Did he also make a name as Jack the Ripper?
Vain and charismatic Walter Sickert made a name for himself as a painter in Victorian London. But the ghoulish nature of his art—as well as extensive evidence—points to another name, one that’s left its bloody mark on the pages of history: Jack the Ripper. Cornwell has collected never-before-seen archival material—including a rare mortuary photo, personal correspondence and a will with a mysterious autopsy clause—and applied cutting-edge forensic science to open an old crime to new scrutiny.
Incorporating material from Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper—Case Closed, this new edition has been revised and expanded to include eight new chapters, detailed maps and hundreds of images that bring the sinister case to life.
London at the time Jack the Ripper carried out his reign of terror, was a city of promiscuity, moral decline, prostitution, unemployment, poverty, police inefficiency… all these things combined to create a feeling of uncertainty and fear.
The East End of London became the focus of that fear. Whitechapel was known for its uneducated, poverty-ridden and morally destitute masses. Jack the Ripper walked onto the streets of the East End and put into stark contrast everything that was wrong about society as a whole.
The locations of the actual crimes are hidden or faded into the past now, but most of the locations can be visited on official Jack the Ripper tours and of course with this book!
Sickert
Sickert took a keen interest in the crimes of Jack the Ripper and believed he had lodged in a room used by the notorious serial killer. ( A landlady has told him that she had suspected a previous lodger. Sickert did a painting of the room and titled it Jack the Ripper’s Bedroom . This painting can be seen at the Manchester Art Gallery.
Destination: London Author/Guide: Patricia Cornwell Departure Time: 1888- 1891
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