Sir John Tenniel

Precious McKenzie Stearns (Rocky Mountain College)

Ed. by Grace Moore, University of Otago
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.07: English Writing and Culture of the Victorian Period, 1837-1901.
Vol. editors: Gillian Fenwick (University of Toronto), Jessica Gossling (Goldsmiths College, University of London)

Dates

Born 28 Feb 1820
Died 25 Feb 1914
Activity 1840-1914

Places

Born in England
Active in England

Activities

Primary

Illustrator

Resources

Tenniel's Works

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John Tenniel (1820-1914) was a much-loved illustrator and political cartoonist from the Victorian period. Tenniel was one of the first regular contributing artists for the satirical journal

Punch

, staying with the publication for fifty years. He also illustrated Lewis Carroll’s

Alice inWonderland

(1865) and

Through the Looking Glass

(1872).

Tenniel received little formal training in art. Yet as a child, living in Marylebone, he benefited from his family’s friendship with the painter John Martin. Martin lived five doors to the west of the Tenniels (Morris 18). John Baptist Tenniel, John Tenniel’s father, had a varied career. He was listed as a “professor of drawing” in Pigot’s London Directory of 1832 (Morris 19). He also considered himself an “artist”, “a teacher of

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1850 words

Citation: McKenzie Stearns, Precious. "Sir John Tenniel". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 05 August 2021 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4348, accessed 23 November 2024.]