"Prince Angelica and her cousin, Prince Giglio," fifteenth illustration by W. M. Thackeray for "The Rose and The Ring" (1855)

Princess Angelica and her cousin, Prince Giglio

W. M. Thackeray

1855

Wood engraving, probably by William Linton

9.1 cm high by 7.9 cm wide (3 ½ by 3 ⅛ inches), vignetted

Fifteenth illustration for Thackeray’s The Rose and The Ring, p. 319.

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

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Passage Illustrated: A Minor Figure from the Education of Prince Giglio

I hope you do not imagine that there was any impropriety in the Prince and Princess walking together in the palace garden, and because Giglio kissed Angelica’s hand in a polite manner. In the first place they are cousins; next, the Queen is walking in the garden, too (you cannot see her, for she happens to be behind that tree), and Her Majesty always wished that Angelica and Giglio should marry: so did Giglio: so did Angelica sometimes, for she thought her cousin very handsome, brave, and good-natured: but then you know she was so clever and knew so many things, and poor Giglio knew nothing, and had no conversation. ["VI. How Prince Giglio Behaved Himself," pp. 316-17]

Commentary

Thackeray introduces the romance between Princess Angelica and her cousin, Prince Giglio in a larger illustration. He establishes the chronological setting by showing the Prince in eighteenth-century garb and armed with a period rapier. The young couple are among the few figures in Thackeray's extensive sequence that the illustrator has portrayed realistically rather than as caricatures, possibly because Thackeray wishes readers to identify with the lovers. Descriptive headlines: "How His Pretty Cousin Meets Him, And How Saucily She Treats Him" (318-19).

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 19 July 2022