Darwin’s Snarked Study

This is about a possible allusion by Alfred Parsons to an illustration by Henry Holiday. But I may be on the wrong track here.

  • [upper left]: The Study at Down (from the The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, v.25 Nov 1882-April 1883, p. 420, Indiana University Library)
    Illustration from a painting (that again from a photo) by Alfred Parsons
    Engraver: James Tynan
    (Scan from original 19th century source:
    Francis Darwin: The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, Vol. 1, 1888, p. 101)
  • [lower left]: Some details from the larger images
  • [right]: Illustration by Henry Holiday and Joseph Swain to Lewis Carroll’s The Hunting of the Snark, 1876

Alfred Parsons may have alluded to Henry Holiday’s illustration. I am not so sure about that, but if Parson played Holiday’s game with Holiday’s illustration, then Parsons must have manipulated the reality (shown in a photo) of Darwin’s study a bit.

Comparison with a scanned print of an engraving which is based on Alfred Parsons painting:

 
Three segments: photo, illustration (Parsons, Tynan), illustration (Holiday, Swain).

Questions: Where is Parsons original painting? And is the photo still available?

 
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2017-09-23, updated: 2018-12-25, exception: comments enabled

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