Existing comment:
Punch Lines
George du Maurier (1834-1896), the leading cartoonist for the British humor magazine Punch, made his career by skewering the affected habits and aesthetic aspirations of the Victorian middle class. Intimately acquainted with the London art scene -- he had known Whistler since they were students together in Paris -- du Maurier made the term "Chinamania" part of the Victorian era's urban dictionary. His china-crazed men and women are more devoted to their porcelains than to their progeny. |