Jacky Holds up Mrs. Gruffanuff's Train
W. M. Thackeray
1855
Wood engraving, probably by William Linton
10.5 cm high by 7.5 cm wide (4 ⅛ by 2 ⅞ inches), vignetted
Twenty-first illustration for Thackeray’s The Rose and The Ring, p. 332
Descriptive headline: "Royal Bulbo This way Comes!" (331)
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham
Passage Illustrated: Announcing the Arrival of Prince Bulbo
‘Oh, mum!’ says the boy, looking at her, ‘how — how beyoutiful you do look, mum, today, mum!’
‘And you, too, Jacky,’ she was going to say; but, looking down at him — no, he was no longer good-looking at all — but only the carroty-haired little Jacky of the morning. However, praise is welcome from the ugliest of men or boys, and Gruffanuff, bidding the boy hold up her train, walked on in high good-humour. The guards saluted her with peculiar respect. Captain Hedzoff, in the anteroom, said, ‘My dear madam, you look like an angel today.’ And so, bowing and smirking, Gruffanuff went in and took her place behind her Royal Master and Mistress, who were in the throne-room, awaiting the Prince of Crim Tartary. Princess Angelica sat at their feet, and behind the King’s chair stood Prince Giglio, looking very savage. [Chapter VIII, "How Gruffanuff Picked the Fairy Ring Up, and Prince Bulbo Came to Court," pp. 331-332]
Commentary: Violations of Visual Continuity and Period Costume
Above: Thackeray's earlier visual interpretations of the pantomime's "Dame part": Mrs. Gruffahuff (fifth and ninth illustrations).
Thackeray provides five illustrations for Chapter 8, which introduces His Royal Highness, Prince Bulbo. Although Thackeray describes Jacky as an ill-dressed "ugly kittle wretch" (331), he makes him look like a fashionably-dressed upper-middle-class boy in suit and top-hat. More serious a departure, however, is Thackeray's violation of visual continuity in the realistic and even flattering portrait of the governess who has heretofore been an amusing, distorted caricature. Thackeray does not subject her to his customary visual satire, seen in previous representations, and instead gives her a beautiful face, elegant hairstyle, and slender form. Moreover, he maintains the governess's eighteenth-century style of clothing, in contrast to Jacky's nineteenth-century wardrobe. However, here her dress and coiffure are reminiscent of the fashionable Marie Antoinette's.
Bibliography
Furniss, Harry. The Rose and The Ring; or, The History of Prince Giglio and the Prince Bulbo. William Makepeace Thackeray's Christmas Books. With illustrations by the author and Harry Furniss. The Harry Furniss Centenary Edition. London: Macmillan and Co., 1911. Pp. 287-428.
Titmarsh, M. A. [W. M. Thackeray].The Rose and The Ring. London: Smith, Elder, 1855.
Created 21 July 2022