The Carved Wooden Figure of Mr. Sapsea's Father by F. G. Kitton

[Victorian Web Home —> Visual Arts —> Illustration —> F. G. Kitton —> Next]

The Carved Wooden Figure of Mr. Sapsea's Father

F. G. Kitton

Illustration for Dickens's The Mystery of Edwin Drood, p. xxx

Scanned image, caption, and commentary by Philip V. Allingham

[You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one. ]

Although the old gentleman is long since dead and doubtless mouldering somewhat in the crypt of Cloisterham Cathedral when the action of the novel occurs, Dickens introduces Sapsea's father (or rather his carved "effigy") when he introduces the Cloisterham auctioneer-turned-politician Sapsea (a tradesman of relatively humble origins who tries to pass himself off as a bishop sartorially and in manner) in Chapter 4: over the doorway of Mayor Sapsea's "premises" (possibly an allusion to his father's having lived in the building in which he conducted auctions) in the High Street is a wooden effigy, about half life-size, of Mr. Sapsea's father, founder of the family fortunes, depicted in the very act of conducting an auction. The wig and toga suggest that he affected the manner and style of the tragic protagonist of Cato at Utica, a popular eighteenth-century tragedy. The figure of the stalwart Roman Republican Cato in wig and toga was a sentimental favourite well into the nineteenth century. It originated in Joseph Addison's Cato, an historical tragedy that debuted in February 1713, at Drury Lane, London. Although as a text it was something of a best-seller, the play did not hold the stage well. The little auctioneer, reminiscent of the Little Midshipman in Dombey and Son, clearly is the business sign of the house, and proclaims Sapsea's origins in "trade" (hardly genteel)

Bibliography

Kitton, Frederick G. The Complete Mystery of Edwin Drood, by Charles Dickens: The History, Continuations, and Solutions (1870-1912) by J. Cuming Walters. With a portrait and illustrations by Sir Luke Fildes, R. A., F. G. Kitton. Facsimiles and a Bibliography. London: Chapman and Hall, 1912.

Last modified 24 June 2005