John Tenniel (1820-1914)

By Toby Berryman

John Tenniel, Illustration from ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ [Page 97 Detail], 1865. British Library Archive.

The Mad Hatter. Alice. The Queen of Hearts. These characters are all instantly identifiable to modern audiences. Nearly two centuries on from their first publication, so many of us are familiar with their visual identity, as well as its many reappearances, parodies, and knock-offs. Yet, it is not so much the acclaimed author Lewis Carroll who we must credit for this, but rather his visionary illustrator (later Sir) John Tenniel. Working from Carroll’s often sparse descriptions, it was Tenniel who developed the meticulously illustrated iconic figures that have been not only recognised, but beloved, for generations. 

Born in Bayswater (two hundred and six years ago this very week) and one of six siblings, Tenniel’s early career did not start as one might expect for an artist later renowned as one of Britain’s greatest illustrators. Instead, having survived a partial blinding by his own father during a fencing accident in his youth, it was history painting and a formal artistic education that Tenniel aspired to. Although this brought him to the Royal Academy Schools and an early painted mural of his is still in the House of Lords today, he soon grew frustrated with so-called ‘fine’ art and by 1850 he had taken up a cartoonist position at the satirical political magazine Punch (which at this time boasted a readership of over one hundred thousand).  

Tenniel excelled in political cartooning and began to make a name for himself through his distinctive outlined style, influenced by the prior German Nazarene movement. With Punch a weekly publication, Tenniel worked frequently and consistently, gaining particular notoriety for his recurring lion motif. It was from here that his work caught the eye of a young author who had recently adopted the pen name Lewis Carroll (and had initially in fact sought to illustrate Alice himself) and as they say, the rest is history. The ninety-two illustrations by John Tenniel for 1865’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland were famously well-received and have helped to sell an estimated one hundred million copies worldwide, with Tenniel’s popular work enduring across countless modern editions. 

John Tenniel, The ‘Silent Highway’ -Man, 1858. Punch, or The London Charivari, Magazine Archive.

Tenniel would later become the first illustrator to receive a knighthood (in 1893, at the hands of then Queen Victoria), but in the meantime he continued to work in cartoons, producing over two thousand with his now signature detail and often grotesque forms for Punch. Rather tragically, following their second collaboration Tenniel informed Carroll that “the faculty of making drawings for book illustrations [has] departed from me” and thus, following Alice’s success, he largely avoided further literary illustration work. 

Tenniel certainly lived a storied later life, with one art critic M. H. Spielmann citing his political capital and abilities in “swaying parties and people, too”, given his position at the ascendant Punch. Shortly after Alice’s publication, Tenniel even trod the very boards that had inspired his earliest illustrated subjects, performing alongside the great Shakespearean actor Ellen Terry at London’s Adelphi Theatre in 1866. His eventual 1901 retirement dinner, chaired by the Leader of the House of Commons, played host to the great and good across politics and the arts, including Dracula creator Bram Stoker and Sherlock Holmes author Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle. 

At the advanced age of ninety-three, Tenniel died of natural causes in London. His influence lives on, from the work of Johnny Depp to Damon Albarn, Tim Walker to Unsuk Chin, and most of all in the millions of readers who turn the pages of his best loved work each and every year. After all, without Tenniel’s art, the world might still know Alice in Wonderland, but it certainly wouldn’t recognise it. 

Bibliography

Beetles, Chris. “Sir John Tenniel RI – 1820-1914.” Chris Beetles Gallery. www.chrisbeetles.com/artists/tenniel-sir-john-ri-1820-1914.html. 

Morris, Frankie. Artist of Wonderland: The Life, Political Cartoons, and Illustrations of Tenniel. Cambridge: The Lutterworth Press, 2005. 

Riddell, Chris. “My Hero: Sir John Tenniel by Chris Riddell.” The Guardian. January 11, 2014. www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jan/11/my-hero-john-tenniel-chris-riddell. 

Victoria & Albert Museum. “John Tenniel – an Introduction.” VAM. April 17, 2024. www.vam.ac.uk/articles/john-tenniel-an-introduction.