John Tenniel

Lore & Background

Tenniel was born in Bayswater, West London, to John Baptist Tenniel, a fencing and dancing master of Huguenot descent, and Eliza Maria Tenniel. He had five siblings. In 1840, while practising fencing, he received a serious eye wound from his father's foil, which had accidentally lost its protective tip; over the years he gradually lost sight in his right eye. He became a student of the Royal Academy of Arts in 1842 by probation, but disagreed with the school's teaching methods and set about educating himself by drawing classical statues, costumes, animals, and actors. He joined the Artist's Society or Clipstone Street Life Academy in the mid-1840s, where he first emerged as a satirical draughtsman.

Tenniel's first book illustration was for Samuel Carter Hall's The Book of British Ballads in 1842. In 1845 he submitted a 16-foot cartoon, An Allegory of Justice, to a competition for designs for the mural decoration of the new Palace of Westminster, receiving a £200 premium and a commission to paint a fresco in the Upper Waiting Hall. At Christmas 1850 he was invited by Mark Lemon to fill the position of joint cartoonist on Punch, contributing his first drawing entitled 'Lord Jack the Giant Killer'. He became chief cartoonist in 1864 after John Leech's death, drawing 2,165 cartoons for Punch over his career.

Tenniel illustrated 92 drawings for Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass (1871). The first print run of 2,000 was sold in the United States because Tenniel objected to the print quality; a new edition released in December 1865 became an instant best-seller. After 1872, when the Carroll projects were finished, Tenniel largely abandoned literary illustration.

Reader's Guide

Sir John Tenniel's significance rests on his dual legacy as the defining political cartoonist of Victorian Britain and the creator of the enduring visual imagery for Lewis Carroll's Alice books. For over five decades at Punch, his cartoons reflected and shaped public opinion on major issues such as Irish nationalism, labour, and war, often employing scathing satire. According to the V&A, 'his intelligent, detailed style elevated the fame and standing of cartoonists immeasurably.' His detailed black-and-white drawings for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass became the definitive depiction of the characters; as comic book illustrator Bryan Talbot noted, 'Carroll never describes the Mad Hatter: our image of him is pure Tenniel.' Knighted in 1893, the first such honour for an illustrator or cartoonist, Tenniel's work at Punch alone—2,165 cartoons plus numerous other drawings—expressed decades of editorial viewpoints and mirrored the conscience of the British majority. His illustrations remain among the most famous literary illustrations ever produced.

Did You Know?

• Tenniel gradually lost sight in his right eye after a fencing accident with his father's foil in 1840.
• He was the first illustrator or cartoonist to be knighted, receiving the honour in 1893.
• The first print run of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was sold in the United States because Tenniel objected to the print quality.
• Tenniel drew 2,165 cartoons for Punch magazine over his career.

Notable Quotes (Wikiquote)

"Sir John Tenniel (28 February 1820 – 25 February 1914) was a British illustrator, graphic humorist and political cartoonist, most famous for his association with Lewis Carroll and his works." — John Tenniel "A wasp in a wig is altogether beyond the appliances of art." — John Tenniel "It is a curious fact that with Through the Looking-Glass the faculty of making book illustrations departed from me. … I have done nothing in that direction since." — John Tenniel "Please let me know to what extent you have used, or intend using, the pruning knife." — John Tenniel