Anon. School Boy 'Master S.W. Otter' Cartoon

Victorian Pen & Ink Cartoons

This drawing forms part of a collection of Victorian pen and ink cartoons that we have for sale. The collection includes two original works by British illustrators Alfred Crowquill (1804–1872) and Richard Doyle (1817–1864), as well as a number of anonymous 19th-century cartoons and drawings after John Leech (1817–1864).

Leech, Crowquill and Doyle were all comic illustrators for Punch magazine during the magazine's heyday in the 19th century. Punch reflected the conservative views of the growing middle classes and played a significant role in the development of political satire as well as revolutionising illustration as a discipline. The work of John Leech in particular came to define the look and tone of Punch magazine, and he gave us 'the cartoon' as we know it today; prior to Leech, cartoons were not called cartoons, they were simply thought of as humorous drawings.

In contrast to the biting British satire of the 18th century, comic illustrations of the 19th century reflected the moral righteousness of the Victorian era. Many of the cartoons lightly ridiculed the pretensions of the establishment and lampooned their grandiose attitudes. A number of the drawings in this collection are from Leech's illustrations to Gilbert Abbott à Beckett's 'The Comic History of England'—the cartoonist's satirical eye turning to the past, critiquing where we have come from in order to better understand who we are.