Nurse and Doctor

Frederick Walker

Wood engraving by Joseph Swain

6¼ x 4¼ inches

W. M. Thackeray,Philip, serialized in The Cornhill Magazine, 3 (May 1861): facing 556.

This is the first illustration entirely by Walker. The modelling of the figures and the emphasis on suspended motion – with characters engaged in an unexpected encounter – exemplifies his emphasis on psychological realism. Walker’s naturalism is radically different from Thackeray’s cartoon-like drawing and connects the story to the facts of everyday life in the 1860s.

Scanned image and text by Simon Cooke.

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