Tenniel illustrations

Mary Hilton Badcock

Unlike John Tenniel's previous work assignments, where he was given the ability and freedom to choose exactly how and what he wanted to draw for " Punch" as a hired illustrator, Tenniel's commission came with Dodgson as an overseer of his work.  Charles Dodgson obviously had his own representation of his characters in mind as he illustrated his own "Alice's Adventures Underground".   When Tenniel began to create the drawings for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Dodgson was always there to discuss what he wanted to see within the drawings of the book; though Tenniel and Dodgson continuously disagreed.The most drastic difference one can see between the two books is the drawings of Alice. In Charles Dodgson's drawings, Alice is shown as a brunette with long wavy hair, while in John Tenniel's illustrations we see Alice with straight long blonde hair that is pulled back.   The portrayal of Alice was claimed to have been based on a young girl named Mary Hilton Badcock (above) instead of Alice Liddell.  Supposedly, Dodgson had purchased a copy of the photograph of the girl because he liked it so much, and " recommended" it to Tenniel.  It is questionable that the girl is the model for Alice, because "by that time Tenniel… had already completed a dozen engravings," but multiple accounts from persons involved state that Dodgson did in fact send the photograph to Tenniel.  The chances that Tenniel gave the photograph much attention and adapted the girl for his illustrations are extremely slim.  The only real resemblance to the girl in the illustrations is the "long blonde hair" (though, this could be inspired by the photograph).  Dodgson wrote in a letter to another illustrator (Gertrude Thomson): "Mr. Tenniel is the only artist who has drawn for me, who has resolutely refused to use a model, and declared he no more needed one than I should need a multiplication table to work a mathematical problem!  I venture to think that he was mistaken, and that for want of a model, he drew several pictures of 'Alice' entirely out of proportion- head decidedly too large and feet decidedly too small).  Dodgson also was unhappy with Alice's dress.  He told Tenniel that he drew her with "too much crinoline"  -- J. M. (student paper)

                                                                        Nursery Alice: Tenniel illustration, colored: any resemblance to Alice Liddell?   

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