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"Rigaud and Cavalletto," the second full-page illustration, facing page 6 of the Diamond Edition, by Sol Eytinge, Jr., in Charles Dickens's Little Dorrit (Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1871).

The second illustration like the first — "Little Dorrit and Her Father" — introduces the characters in a characteristic setting: whereas the first pair were in Dorrit's rooms in the Marshalsea, here the characters are clearly situated in a prison cell (in fact, as we learn from the text, the Marseilles Prison), as emphasized by the lattice-work of iron bars in the window and the thickness of the stone wall. The dual character presentation is a study in binary opposites; it depends for its effectiveness on the extreme contrast between the cell-mates, for Monsieur Rigaud (standing, left) is suave, composed, well-dressed, and dominant, while Cavelletto (seated, right) seems almost simian, a Darwinian throwback with thick hair, in contrast to Rigaud's much trimmer hair style, and peasant clothing in contrast to the other's gentlemanly, cosmopolitan attire. As a somewhat hairsuit individual in Eytinge's wood-cut Cavalletto is worthy of his Christian names , "John Baptiste" (as Dickens notes in Pictures from Italy, the most common masculine name in Genoa, where the writer spent much of 1844). Eytinge distinguishes the two in terms of the text, for whereas tall Rigaud is "sinister" (4) Cavalletto is specifically a "little man" (4) squatting on the pavement "contentedly," a merry, good-hearted, earthy sort of fellow. However, whereas only the diabolic Rigaud is apparently smoking in the 1871 illustration, in the text both have lit cigarettes. Since Rigaud is standing and their midday meal finished, the passage illustrated is likely this:

"I am a," — Monsieur Rigaud stood up to say it, — "I am a cosmopolitan gentleman. I own no particular country. My father was Swiss, — Canton de Vaud. My mother was French by blood, English by birth. I myself was born in Belgium. I am a citizen of the world."

His theatrical air, as he stood with one arm on his hip, within the folds of his cloak, together with his manner of disregarding his companion and addressing the opposite wall instead, seemed to intimate that he was rehearsing for the President [of the Justice Tribunal, about to pass judgment on Rigaud for the murder of his wife], whose examination he was shortly to undergo, rather than troubling himself merely to enlighten so small a person as John Baptist Cavalletto. [Chapter One, "Sun and Shadow," p. 6]

Bibliography

Dickens, Charles. Little Dorrit. Il. Sol Eytinge, Jr. The Diamond Edition. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1871.

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Last modified 30 March 2011