William Heath (1795–1840): The Shadowy Voice of Victorian Satire William Heath (1795 – 7 April 1840) was an English artist who once described himself as a “portrait & military painter.” He stands apart in the annals of Victorian art not for grand landscapes or opulent portraits, but for his prolific engravings—caricatures, political cartoons, and astute observations of everyday life—that captured the anxieties and contradictions of hi…