Lilian Lancaster - Spain and Portugal - 1868
by Vintage Map
Title
Lilian Lancaster - Spain and Portugal - 1868
Artist
Vintage Map
Medium
Digital Art - Printed Map
Description
First published in "Geographical Fun, Humorous Outlines of Various Countries" by Hodder & Stoughton in London in 1868, this map of Spain & Portugal was published shortly after a successful revolt to depose the increasingly unpopular Spanish Queen, Isabella II. Spain herself is depicted as an elegantly attired lady, veiled in Mantilla lace, and holding a large bunch of grapes, her Iberian neighbour, Portugal, a strangely attired pet mule! This unusual & charming map was one of a series depicting twelve different countries & regions of Europe originally designed by talented Victorian teenage artist, Eliza Jane Lancaster [1852-1939], as a distraction to entertain her younger brother during a protracted bout of illness at home.The accompanying rhyming verses were composed by the London journalist, William Harvey [1796-1873], who worked under the pen name "Aleph". Eliza Jane subsequently became a popular British actress & comedienne, taking the stage name Lilian Lancaster. A pantomimne artiste on the British provincial stage during the 1870s & early 1880s, she even toured the United States with George Conquest's "Grim Goblin" Pantomime Company in 1880-1. It was here, at New York's Wallack's Theater, that she wowed American audiences with performances of the then popular comic song, "Lardy Dah! Lardy Dah!" during the all too brief, accident-prone run of Conquest's pantomime. After marrying a wealthy Yorkshire landowner in 1884, Lilian left the stage and retired to the country & a life of relative obscurity. Following her husband's early death in 1897 she became active again as a comic mapmaker & cartoonist. In 1912 she designed a series of charming pictorial maps to illustrate E L Hoskyn's popular children's book, a compilation of traditional folk tales & legends, entitled "Stories of Old". Lilian Lancaster died in London in August 1939.
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April 1st, 2020
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