Charlie is my Darling
William S. Gilbert
Engraving
Fun
“No. 118, “Charlie is My Darling,” by J.E Millais, R.A Elect, is a portrait of a young lady of pleasing appearance, placed on a tall pedestal because she has done something. She is dressed like the ladies who do the ‘Quadrille de la Cour’ in the haute école scenes at Franconi’s [a Victorian circus]. If we may hazard a guess as to the offence which has resulted in her being placed on the stool of repentance, we should say that she has been ‘carrying on’ too freely with Charlie. However she is a nice girl with a charming face and pouting lips, and Charlie is a particularly lucky dog.”
The cartoon in the same style as in the first review of the 1864 Royal Academy , which is signed with the initials “W.S.G.” This is the Gilbert of Gilbert & Sullivan fame who I assume also wrote the often savage critical commentaries. — George P. Landow
Courtesy of the Suzy Covey Comic Book Collection in the George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida.
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