"Mr. and Madame Mantalini" — Sol Eytinge, Jr.'s second illustration for Dickens's "Nicholas Nickleby" (1867)

[Victorian Web Home —> Visual Arts —> Illustration—> Sol Eytinge, Jr. —> Nicholas Nickleby —> Charles Dickens —> Next]

Mr. and Madame Mantalini

Sol Eytinge, Jr.

1867

Wood-engraving

10.1 x 7.45 cm (framed)

Dickens's Nicholas Nickleby (Diamond Edition), facing IV, 244.

[Click on image to enlarge it.]

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

[You may use these images 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.]

Passage Illustrated: The Mantalinis visit Ralph Nickleby

"Demmit!" exclaimed Mr. Mantalini, opening his eyes at the sound of Ralph’s voice, "it is a horrid reality. She is sitting there before me. There is the graceful outline of her form; it cannot be mistaken — there is nothing like it. The two countesses had no outlines at all, and the dowager’s was a demd outline. Why is she so excruciatingly beautiful that I cannot be angry with her, even now?"

"You have brought it upon yourself, Alfred," returned Madame Mantalini — still reproachfully, but in a softened tone.

"I am a demd villain!" cried Mr. Mantalini, smiting himself on the head. "I will fill my pockets with change for a sovereign in halfpence and drown myself in the Thames; but I will not be angry with her, even then, for I will put a note in the twopenny-post as I go along, to tell her where the body is. She will be a lovely widow. I shall be a body. Some handsome women will cry; she will laugh demnebly."

"Alfred, you cruel, cruel creature," said Madame Mantalini, sobbing at the dreadful picture.

"She calls me cruel — me — me — who for her sake will become a demd, damp, moist, unpleasant body!" exclaimed Mr. Mantalini.

"You know it almost breaks my heart, even to hear you talk of such a thing," replied Madame Mantalini.

"Can I live to be mistrusted?" cried her husband. "Have I cut my heart into a demd extraordinary number of little pieces, and given them all away, one after another, to the same little engrossing demnition captivater, and can I live to be suspected by her? Demmit, no I can’t."

"Ask Mr. Nickleby whether the sum I have mentioned is not a proper one," reasoned Madame Mantalini.

"I don’t want any sum," replied her disconsolate husband; "I shall require no demd allowance. I will be a body."

On this repetition of Mr. Mantalini’s fatal threat, Madame Mantalini wrung her hands, and implored the interference of Ralph Nickleby; and after a great quantity of tears and talking, and several attempts on the part of Mr. Mantalini to reach the door, preparatory to straightway committing violence upon himself, that gentleman was prevailed upon, with difficulty, to promise that he wouldn’t be a body. This great point attained, Madame Mantalini argued the question of the allowance, and Mr. Mantalini did the same, taking occasion to show that he could live with uncommon satisfaction upon bread and water, and go clad in rags, but that he could not support existence with the additional burden of being mistrusted by the object of his most devoted and disinterested affection. This brought fresh tears into Madame Mantalini’s eyes, which having just begun to open to some few of the demerits of Mr. Mantalini, were only open a very little way, and could be easily closed again. The result was, that without quite giving up the allowance question, Madame Mantalini, postponed its further consideration; and Ralph saw, clearly enough, that Mr. Mantalini had gained a fresh lease of his easy life, and that, for some time longer at all events, his degradation and downfall were postponed. [Chapter XXXIV, "Wherein Mr. Ralph Nickleby is visited by Persons with whom the Reader has been already made acquainted," 243-244]

Commentary: A Dysfunctional Marriage

Although she is a highly competent businesswoman, Mayfair dressmaker Madame Mantalini often fails to see through her handsome n'er-do-well foreign husband's blandishments. Alfred (Muntle) Mantalini, a wastral and a spendthrift, has become entangled in Ralph Nicklbey's financial snares, as his personal extravagances result in his wife's business going into bankruptcy. Their arrival at Ralph Nickleby's counting-house to borrow money brings the unscrupulous money-lender good news: they recount how Nicholas has run into trouble as a result of his altercation with Sir Mulberry Hawk about his unwanted advances to Kate.

Illustrations of Mantalinis from Other Editions (1839, 1875, and 1910)

Left: Phiz's realizes the same scene, but includes Madame Mantalini: Mr. and Mrs. Mantalini in Ralph Nickleby's Office (February 1839), Chapter 11. Centre: Fred Barnard presents Mantalini's manipulative nature through his theatrically proposing suicide in the Household Edition: The dressing-room door being hastily flung open, Mr. Mantalini was disclosed to view, with his shirt collar symmetrically thrown back: putting a fine edge to a breakfast knife by means of his razor strop. (1875). Right: Harry Furniss's study of the amply whiskered Italian poser: Mr. Alfred Mantalini (1910).

Related material, including front matter and sketches, by other illustrators

Bibliography

Dickens, Charles. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. Illustrated by Phiz (Hablot Knight Browne). London: Chapman and Hall, 1839.

_______. Nicholas Nickleby.Illustrated by Sol Eytinge, Jr., and engraved by A. V. S. Anthony. The Diamond Edition. 16 vols. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1867. IV.

_______. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. Ed. Andrew Lang. Illustrated by 'Phiz' (Hablot Knight Browne). The Gadshill Edition. London: Chapman and Hall, 1897. 2 vols.

_______. Nicholas Nickleby. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. 18 vols. London: Educational Book, 1910. IV.

Last modified 21 April 2021