“Darwininan Moment — Selection of the Fittest” by Edward Linley Sambourne (1844-1910)</span>

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Darwininan Moment — Selection of the Fittest!

Edward Linley Sambourne (1844-1910)

Wood engraving

Punch (1 October 1878): 170

This is another witty drawing (following the one from 1 June that year) showing all the candidates for Presidency of the Royal Academy as Ugly Sisters, vying for the glass slipper handed round by the muse of British art: The Royal Academicians were all entitled to vote for future Presidents. [Commentary continues belwo.]

Prior to the vote in November 1878 Sambourne provided likenesses of the favourites. Front row, left to right, with the votes they eventually received: Horsley (5), Millais (1), Richmond (2), and Leighton (25). Behind Millais is Gilbert (2), and centre back is Frith (1). Notice Ruskin, in profile, looking on assessingly at the far left. The figure placed alone on the far right looks like Philip Hermogenes Calderon, who was elected RA the same year as Leighton, but does not seem to have been a front runner for the Presidency. Another cartoon would follow (30 November), congratulating Leighton on his success.

Related Material

Image capture by George P. Landow, text by Shirley Nicholson (sent in while working on the catalogue of Linley Sambourne’s drawings held by Linley Sambourne House), and formatting by Jacqueline Banerjee. You may use the image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the Hathi Trust and Harvard University and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one. [Click on image to enlarge it, and mouse over th text for links.]

Bibliography

Punch 74-75 (1878): 251 Hathi Trust. Contributed by Harvard University. Web. 3 October 2021.

Created 3 October 2021
Last modified 4 November 2022