Tenniel

Tenniel, SIR JOHN, caricaturist, was born in London in 1820. A self-trained artist, he was selected in 1845 in competition to paint one of the frescoes—Dryden's 'St Cecilia'—in the Houses of Parliament. But to the public he is known not as painter, but as book-illustrator, and chiefly as the cartoonist of Punch. He joined its staff in 1851, and year after year since Leech's death produced the principal weekly political cartoons for Punch, which are notable not less for their pathos than for their wit, humour, and skilful draughtsmanship. His illustrations to Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-glass are remarkable for their grace, delicacy, and finish; earlier book-illustrations were to Æsop's Fables, Moore's Lalla Rookh, the Ingoldsby Legends, &c. He was knighted in 1893; and published his last cartoon in Punch—last of the fifty years series—in January 1901.