John Tenniel

28 February 1820 - 25 February 1914. British artist and illustrator, famous for his illustrations of the Alice novels.

Sir John Tenniel was born on 28 February 1820 in London as the third son of father John Baptist Tenniel [and mother??]. With six children alltogether, the Tenniel family lived in Kensington in poor conditions. Soon, after having attended the local primary school, his father began to teach him fencing, dancing, riding and other sports. At the age of twenty, while fencng with his father, John Tenniel recieved a grave wound in his right eye from his father's foil, which over the years led to a complete blindness, though he always kept this secret from his father in order not to get punished.

From an early age on Tenniel discovered his interest in arts. After a short appearance at the Royal Academy - he left again because he detested the way of teaching - he began to exhibit his paintings at the Suffolk Street Galleries at the age of sixteen and soon recieved several commisions, including a fresco for the House of Lords in 1845. However, he soon turned away from oil paintings and started with book illustrations, as they seemed to bring him more money and a better career. His earliest illustration appeared in Hall's Book of British Ballads in 1842.

Due to this and other illustrations and his skill for illustrations in dramatic situations, John Tenniel caught the eye of Mark Lemon, who was the editor of the Punch magazine. When in 1850 their key artist Richard Doyle resigned, John Tenniel was asked to fill the empty spot. Beside his work work for Punch, John Tenniel still continued to illustrate for other books and magazines.

John Tenniel always claimed that due to his photographic memory he never used models or photographs for his drawings. Gifted with this outstanding talent, his most famous works of illustrations appear in Lewis Caroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass (1871).

At the age of 81 Sir John Tenniel retired from making drawings and illustrations and continued to live with his sister at his home in Kensington. His only marriage back in 1852 had lasted only for two years because of his wife's death and brought no children.

Bibliography:

Engen, Rodney. Sir John Tenniel: Alice’s White Knight. Brookfield: Scolar Press, 1991.

Sarzano, Frances. Sir John Tenniel. English Masters of Black-And-White. London: Art and Technics, 1948.

Simpson, Roger. Sir John Tenniel: Aspects of His Work. Rutherford: AUP, 1994.

Wakeling, Edward. John Tenniel Page. March 2008 <http://www.wakeling.demon.co.uk/page10-Tenniel.htm>.