"A piece of her torn mantle and one of her shoes were found in the wood in the mouths of two lionesses’ cubs," sixth illustration by W. M. Thackeray for "The Ring and The Book" (1855)

[Victorian Web Home —> Visual Arts —> Illustration —> W. M. Thackeray —> Next]

A piece of her torn mantle and one of her shoes were found in the wood in the mouths of two lionesses’ cubs

W. M. Thackeray

1855

Wood engraving, probably by William Linton

8.9 cm high by 8.9 cm wide (3 ⅜ by 3 ⅜ inches), vignetted

Sixth illustration for Thackeray’s The Rose and The Ring.

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

. . . poor little Rosalba was left there quite alone — quite alone; and she toddled from one room to another, crying, ‘Countess! Duchess!’ (Only she said ‘Tountess, Duttess,’ not being able to speak plain) ‘bring me my mutton sop; my Royal Highness hungy! Tountess! Duttess!’ And she went from the private apartments into the throne-room and nobody was there; — and thence into the ballroom and nobody was there; — and thence into the pages’ room and nobody was there; — and she toddled down the great staircase into the hall and nobody was there; — and the door was open, and she went into the court, and into the garden, and thence into the wilderness, and thence into the forest where the wild beasts live, and was never heard of any more!

A piece of her torn mantle and one of her shoes were found in the wood in the mouths of two lionesses’ cubs whom KING PADELLA and a royal hunting party shot — for he was King now, and reigned over Crim Tartary. ‘So the poor little Princess is done for,’ said he; ‘well, what’s done can’t be helped. Gentlemen, let us go to luncheon!’ And one of the courtiers took up the shoe and put it in his pocket. And there was an end of Rosalba! [III, "Tells Who the Fairy Blackstick was, and Who Were Ever So Many Grand Personages Besides," pp. 304-5]

Commentary: Evidence of Predation Found in the Woods

After Thackeray has introduced the delightful King and Queen in his pantomime cast, the satirical illustrator utilizes distortion and exaggeration, particularly with respect to the visage of Mrs. Gruffahuff in the second chapter and, in the third, the size of the horse and the characters' heads, to suggest the conventions of pantomime in his pseudo-fairy-tale illustrations. Descriptive headline: "Flattering Courtiers Make Poor Martyrs" (304).

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 15 July 2022