A Crocodile

Charles Bennett

1857

Hand-coloured wood engraving.

6 x 5½ inches

Illustration for Bennett’s Shadows, no page number.

The predatory nature of beasts informs this version of the mid-Victorian roué. Figured as a seedy flâneur, the character’s hat casts the shadow of a crocodile that consumes his victims.

Scanned image and text by Simon Cooke.

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