Mr. Fang

J. Clayton Clarke ("Kyd")

c. 1900

15.3 x 9.8 cm framed

Original watercolour

Oliver Twist (homepage)

Seventh illustration for Oliver Twist in Kyd's sequence of twelve water-colour "extra illustrations."

See below for passage illustrated and commentary.

Click on image to enlarge it

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham. [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.].

Passage Illustrated

Mr. Fang was a lean, long-backed, stiff-necked, middle-sized man, with no great quantity of hair, and what he had, growing on the back and sides of his head. His face was stern, and much flushed. If he were really not in the habit of drinking rather more than was exactly good for him, he might have brought action against his countenance for libel, and have recovered heavy damages. [Chapter 11, "Treats Of Mr. Fang The Police Magistrate; And Furnishes A Slight Specimen Of His Mode Of Administering Justice."]

Commentary

Mr. Fang, the rabidly punitive police magistrate before whom Oliver appears on a charge of theft, is a vindictive functionary of the law based on one Mr. Laing, a justice at Hatton Garden whose harsh and unreasonable sentences eventually resulted in his removal from the bench. Fang was not a favorite subject for illustrators of Dickens, and this may be the only portrait of him.

Bibliography

Bentley, Nicolas, Michael Slater, and Nina Burgis. The Dickens Index. New York and Oxford: Oxford U. P., 1990.

Davis, Paul. Charles Dickens A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Facts On File, 1998.

Dickens, Charles. The Adventures of Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress. Illustrated by George Cruikshank. London: Bradbury and Evans; ​Chapman and Hall, 1846.

Pailthorpe, Frederic W. (illustrator). Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist. London: Robson and Kerslake, 1886.

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Created 19 February 2015