Caricatures of Charles Darwin and his evolutionary theory in 19th-century England
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Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...
and his groundbreaking
theory of evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variatio ...
, primates were mainly used as caricatures of human nature. Although comparisons between man and animal are rather old, it was not until the findings of science that mankind recognised itself as a part of the animal kingdom (however, in some religious beliefs, mankind still plays a unique role above animals and is not considered part of the animal kingdom).
Caricatures A caricature is a rendered image showing the features of its subject in a simplified or exaggerated way through sketching, pencil strokes, or other artistic drawings (compare to: cartoon). Caricatures can be either insulting or complimentary, a ...
of Darwin and his evolutionary theory reveal how closely science was intertwined with both the arts and the public during the
Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...
. They display the general perception of Darwin, his "monkey theory" and apes in 19th-century England.


Image description


''Professor Darwin''

We see Darwin portrayed as a monkey with his own human head. He holds a mirror up to another monkey which is sitting next to him. It seems as if he would invite the monkey to ponder over himself and his existence. This is underlined by the two accompanying quotations of
Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
: "This is the ape of form" (from: Love's Labour's Lost, act 5, scene 2) and "Some four or five descents since" ( All's Well that Ends Well, act 3, scene 7). Darwin's facial expression seems to encourage the monkey to recognise their common ancestry. The ape, in turn, looks into the mirror and tries to touch the reflection to literally grasp Darwin's suggestion and to assure himself of the authenticity of their kinship.


''Man Is But a Worm''

Linley Sambourne Edward Linley Sambourne (4 January 18443 August 1910) was an English cartoonist and illustrator most famous for being a draughtsman for the satirical magazine ''Punch magazine, Punch'' for more than forty years and rising to the position of "Fir ...
drew a "wild evolutionary polonaise" which spirals up from C H A O S and ends in the English gentleman holding a cylinder. Among the stages in the process are the earthworm, the monkey and the cave man. Clocks are displayed in the background; the path on which the evolution proceeds is labelled as "times meter" both indicating that the evolution is depicted in time lapse. Darwin is enthroned next to the gentleman and seems to watch the whole development. Thereby he resembles one of the figures of Michelangelo's ceiling fresco in the
Sistine Chapel The Sistine Chapel (; la, Sacellum Sixtinum; it, Cappella Sistina ) is a chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the pope in Vatican City. Originally known as the ''Cappella Magna'' ('Great Chapel'), the chapel takes its nam ...
.Cf. Voss, "Variieren und Selektieren," 250.


Interpretation


''Professor Darwin''

This caricature offers various starting points for an art-historical analysis. It was published three years after Darwin's work ''
The Descent of Man ''The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex'' is a book by English naturalist Charles Darwin, first published in 1871, which applies evolutionary theory to human evolution, and details his theory of sexual selection, a form of biol ...
'' (1871). Here, Darwin finally takes a stand and argues that humans and monkeys share a common ancestor. In the caricature, however, this view is put into question. Moreover, it goes back on the widespread assumption that humans exhibit certain animal features – the ape as a mirror for humankind so to speak. In this respect the caricature stands also in the tradition of
vanitas A ''vanitas'' (Latin for 'vanity') is a symbolic work of art showing the temporality, transience of life, the futility of pleasure, and the certainty of death, often contrasting symbols of wealth and symbols of ephemerality and death. Best-kn ...
which is symbolised by the hand mirror reflecting human vanity. The fact that the ape-like Darwin is holding the mirror and not the real ape shows that Darwin and his theory should be ridiculed. Darwin himself has acknowledged that " ehas given man a pedigree of prodigious length, but not, it may be said, of noble quality." Consequently, the ape is not enhanced in status through his kinship with man. After the publication of ''The Descent of Man'' Darwin was increasingly identified with the theory of evolution although his friend
Thomas Henry Huxley Thomas Henry Huxley (4 May 1825 – 29 June 1895) was an English biologist and anthropologist specialising in comparative anatomy. He has become known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. The stori ...
was the first to put it forward. As a result, Darwin himself was considered more and more as a suitable object to caricature. The cover of the French satirical magazine ''La Petite Lune'' is a telling example of the paradigmatic representation of Darwin in contemporary cartoons and caricatures.


''Man Is But a Worm''

Sambourne's caricature deals in a playful manner with the topics "evolution" and "descent of man." The title alludes to a publication of Darwin entitled ''The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms, with Observations of their Habits'' which was issued in October 1881. In the caricature, evolution is associated with metamorphosis and portrayed as a gradual process which inevitably leads to advancement. This, however, conveys a reduced if not false picture of Darwin's theory in which competition, hereditary transmission, coincidence and selection play a major role. Besides, these circular images of evolutionary progression form a striking contrast to Darwin's own linear and branching evolutionary trees. In ''
The Origin of Species ''On the Origin of Species'' (or, more completely, ''On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life''),The book's full original title was ''On the Origin of Species by Me ...
'' Darwin "took pains to emphasize that evolution was neither progressive nor circular." That the earthworm is transformed into a monkey and not into another animal might indicate that the thesis of a kinship between ape and human received a wider acceptance among the British public (''The Descent of Man'' had been published 10 years earlier). Still, the monkey is depicted as the underdeveloped version of a human. At the same time, however, the "superior" human being or rather the English gentleman is ridiculed: he too is descended from an earthworm.


Precursors and reception

Precursors for the depiction of anthropomorphic animals were the works of Grandville who portrayed individuals for example in ''Les Métamorphoses du jour'' (1828–29) with the bodies of men and faces of animals. The caricatures of
Charles Philipon Charles Philipon (19 April 1800 – 25 January 1861) was a French lithographer, caricaturist and journalist. He was the founder and director of the satirical political journals '' La Caricature'' and of ''Le Charivari''. Early life Cha ...
can also be considered as a role model for the illustrators of ''
Punch Punch commonly refers to: * Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist * Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice Punch may also refer to: Places * Pun ...
'' and other English satirical magazines. The cyclical depiction of Darwin's evolutionary theory might have been modelled on the wood engravings of the illustrator Charles H. Bennett which show transformations of humans into immobile objects and vice versa. The caricatures provide not only insights into the public perception of Darwin's evolutionary theory but also played an essential part in its dissemination and popularisation. During the 1860s and 1870s the kinship between ape and man was doubted more frequently than in later decades where this idea received a wider acceptance. Today we meet the evolutionary theory on T-shirts in the form of graphic arts. Quite often, it is the lifestyle of modern man that is ridiculed. The monkey is now only depicted as the underdeveloped stage of the human and does not function as the caricature of human behaviour any more. Likewise, Darwin has lost his prominent position as a motif for caricatures.


Origin

* The caricature ''Prof. Darwin'' was published on 18 February 1874 three years after the publication of Darwin's seminal work ''The Descent of Man'' in ''Figaros London Sketch Book of Celebrities. The artist is unknown. * ''Man Is But a Worm'', a caricature by Edward Linley Sambourne, was printed in ''Punchs Almanack for 1882 on 6 December 1881. * A drawing done by Edward Linley Sambourne references Darwin. This drawing was titled, "Man is But a Worm." On 6 December 1881, this drawing was put into Punch's Almanac.


Sources

{{reflist


See also

* Reactions to On the Origin of Species *
Portraits of Charles Darwin There are many known portraits of Charles Darwin. Darwin came from a wealthy family and became a well-known naturalist and author, and portraits were made of him in childhood, adulthood and old age. Darwin's life (1809–1882) spanned the deve ...


Further reading

* Browne, Janet: "Making Darwin: Biography and the Changing Representations of Charles Darwin." ''The Journal of Interdisciplinary History'' 40 (2010): 347–373. * Browne, Janet: "Charles Darwin as a Celebrity." ''Science in Context'' 16 (2003): 175–194. * Donald, Diana and Jane Munro: ''Endless Forms. Charles Darwin, Natural Science and the Visual Arts''. Cambridge, 2009. * Gapps, Suzanne: "Charles Darwin as an Icon." ''Culture and Organization'' 12 (2006): 341–357. * Janson, Horst W.: ''Apes and Ape Lore in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance''. London, 1952. * Kemp, Martin: ''The Human Animal in Western Art and Science''. Chicago und London, 2007. * Kort, Pamela and Max Hollein: ''Darwin. Kunst und die Suche nach den Ursprüngen''. Köln, 2009. * Larson, Barbara and Fae Brauer: ''The Art of Evolution. Darwin, Darwinisms, and Visual Culture''. Hanover, 2009. * Voss, Julia: ''Darwins Bilder. Ansichten der Evolutionstheorie 1837–1874''. Frankfurt a.M., ²2009. * Voss, Julia: "Darwin oder Moses? Funktion und Bedeutung von Charles Darwins Porträt im 19. Jahrhundert." ''NTM Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Wissenschaften, Technik und Medizin'' 16 (2008): 213–243.


External links

* Darwin's ''The Descent of Man''
Wood engravings by Charles H. Bennett
Cultural depictions of Charles Darwin Caricature