Image of Gallery in South Kensington
Not currently on display at the V&A
On short term loan out for exhibition

The Pas De Deux!

Drawing
1878 (drawn)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Drawing


Object details

Category
Object type
TitleThe Pas De Deux! (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Pencil
Brief description
Drawing, `The "Pas De Deux!". Sketch for a political cartoon in `Punch', 1878, by Sir John Tenniel
Physical description
Drawing
Dimensions
  • Image height: 21.4cm
  • Width: 16.7cm
  • Separate inscription height: 45mm
  • Separate inscription width: 178mm
Styles
Marks and inscriptions
Signed with the monogram JT. Labels attached to the original mount, included ones for the Franco-British Exhibition, London, 1908 (with the name of Isidore Spielmann as Commissioner for Art), for the Japan-British Exhibition, 1910, the Punch Exhibition, and for the U.S.Customs; also, a separate strip of paper, inscribed with title and From the `Seine de Triomphe' in the Grand Anglo-Turkish Ballet d'Action. See Punch. Inscribed John Tenniel.1878., possibly in the artist's hand.
Gallery label
Established in 1841, Punch cast a satirical eye over life in Britain and established an enormous readership, making its illustrators and writers household names among its middle-class readers. Dodgson admired John Tenniel, Punch’s lead cartoonist from 1862, and collected cuttings from the magazine. Tenniel, son of a dance teacher, often referenced ballet steps into his images. In this drawing, he has Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli and Foreign Secretary Robert Cecil perform a dance duet to celebrate a successful foreign mission. [Label for Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser](2019)
Credit line
Purchased with the assistance of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, Art Fund, Shell International and the Friends of the V&A
Object history
According to Rodney Searight: - `M. H. Spielmann; Bt Christie's, Feb. 1970, £26:5/-[shillings]'.
Historical context
Reproduced in `Punch' 3 August 1878, p.43. Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, was Prime Minister at the time of this cartoon's publication, and Robert Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, was his Foreign Secretary. Presumably they had just returned from the Congress of Berlin, where they had together represented Britain and had been successful in forcing Russia to accept certain conditions and restrictions and in securing various gains for Britain.
For further information on the events satirised by Tenniel, see Searight Archive.
Subjects depicted
Collection
Accession number
SD.1023

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Record createdApril 9, 2008
Record URL
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