John Tenniel (again)

 Sorry, but I think that this prompt for John Tenniel on Sketching Every Day that I mentioned in my previous post has set me off on a real Tenniel kick. As well as posting 'Dropping the Pilot' I made and posted this copy of his cartoon "New Crowns for Old Ones".

This cartoon from April 1876 satirises Benjamin Disraeli's Royal Titles Act, the Act of Parliament that conferred the title of Empress of India upon Queen Victoria and her descendants, The title was finally relinquished by the British Crown as India finally gained independence in 1947.

The actual cartoon depicts Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli as the bad guy in the story of Aladdin, posing as a crown (lamp) seller, trying to persuade Victoria to swap her dingy, old and yet magical British Crown (lamp) for the new, shiny but (in his view) worthless Indian one. Well, you wouldn't have expected him to necessarily be commenting upon the moral wrong of the British rule of India, would you.