This is a section of Doyle’s panorama of figures in procession to the Crystal Palace. 4 x 6½ inches. Wood-engraving by the Dalziel Brothers. Left to right, the figures are as follows: a hat-selling Jew; hirsute Germans; Arabs, with a Scottish bagpiper in the background; a banjo-strumming American; more Arabs; Scots; two Italians. As usual with such books the artist takes the opportunity to present racial (and perhaps racist) types, while characterising some (the Jewish character, the Scottish) as representatives of individual countries; of course, no such groups would appear at the Great Exhibition. Doyle’s cartoon portraits, with their individualized features, are carefully drawn, and formally far superior to the work of G. A. Sala. [Click on image to enlarge it.]
Photograph and text by Simon Cooke. You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link to this URL in a web document or cite it in a print one.
Bibliography
Doyle, Richard. An Overland Journey to the Great Exhibition. London: Chapman and Hall, 1851.
Created 1 March 2021