This is the first of two illustrations forThe Man who would be King. Artist and engraver: William Strang. 1901. Steel plate etching. A Series of Thirty Illustrations by William Strang, Illustrating Subjects from the Writings of Rudyard Kipling (1901), plate 18 [click on image to enlarge it.]
An image of Peachy Carnehan being crucified by the people of Kafiristan. Once again, Strang’s emphasis is on human suffering, which is vividly conveyed by the figure’s ungainly stance, tormented by pain; nightmarish characters, with mask-like faces that recall the art of the Belgian painter James Ensor, look on.
Image scan, text and formatting by Simon Cooke. 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.
Bibliography
Kipling, Rudyard. A Series of Thirty Etchings by William Strang, Illustrating Subjects from the Writings of Rudyard Kipling. London: Macmillan, 1901.
Created 30 September 2025