Enduring Symbols of Empire
In this depiction of a lion leaping toward a tiger that has attacked a woman and baby, John Tenniel refers to the revenge the British inflicted on India for killing innocent European women and children during the Indian Mutiny of 1857. Tenniel was a British illustrator and political cartoonist whose work commented on British politics and society during the latter half of the nineteenth century. He carefully crafted this political cartoon based on a lost, earlier version originally published in 1857 in Punch, a periodical that he served for many years as chief cartoonist. This famous drawing helped popularize the lion as a modern symbol of the British Empire in cartoons.
In this depiction of a lion leaping toward a tiger that has attacked a woman and baby, John Tenniel refers to the revenge the British inflicted on India for killing innocent European women and children during the Indian Mutiny of 1857. Tenniel was a British illustrator and political cartoonist whose work commented on British politics and society during the latter half of the nineteenth century. He carefully crafted this political cartoon based on a lost, earlier version originally published in 1857 in <em>Punch</em>, a periodical that he served for many years as chief cartoonist. This famous drawing helped popularize the lion as a modern symbol of the British Empire in cartoons.