Boat-Raceana. John Gordon Thomson (1841-1911), artist, and Dalziel, engraver.Fun (29 March 1873): 148. Courtesy of the Suzy Covey Comic Book Collection in the George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida. Click on image to enlarge it.]
The top left compares an oarsman with grotesquely enlarged arms “after training” to a tiny man with a huge egg-shaped head who represents “before training” while the two women in the corner represent Oxford and Cambridge: the first, who holds a Latin dictionary, embodies Oxford classical learning and appropriately wears Greek or Roman dress, and the second wears clothing covered with mathematical formula, indicating Cambridge’s reputation as a leading scientific university. The bottom panel, which is entitled “Boat race of the sister universities as it ought to be,” depicts a woman’s crew rowing a shell— “light blue stockings v. dark blue stockings.” — a joke in 1873 but reality today. Satire as prophesy? — George P. Landow]
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Last modified 12 March 2016