Evolution Cartoons of Charles Darwin

Shortly after the Publication of On the Origin of Species Linley Sambourne's cartoon Man Is But a Worm was published in Punchs's Almanack. It depicts the evolution of the worm into the human - in this case, the English gentleman - as a means of ridiculing Darwin's theory.

Image description[edit]

Prof. Darwin in Figaro‘s London Sketch Book of Celebrities, February 18, 1874.

Professor Darwin[edit]

We see Darwin portrayed as a monkey with his own human head. He holds a mirror up to another monkey which is sitting next to him. It seems as if he would invite the monkey to ponder over himself and his existence. This is underlined by the two accompanying quotations of Shakespeare: "This is the ape of form" (from: Love's Labour's Lost, act 5, scene 2) and "Some four or five descents since" (All's Well that Ends Well, act 3, scene 7). Darwin's facial expression seems to encourage the monkey to recognize their common ancestry. The ape, in turn, looks into the mirror and tries to touch the reflection to literally grasp Darwin's suggestion and to assure himself of the authenticity of their kinship.

Man Is But a Worm[edit]

Linley Sambourne drew a "wild evolutionary polonaise" which spirals up from C H A O S and ends in the English gentleman holding a cylinder. Among the stages in the process are the earthworm, the monkey and the cave man. Clocks are displayed in the background; the path on which the evolution proceeds is labeled as "times meter" both indicating that the evolution is depicted in time lapse. Darwin is enthroned next to the gentleman and seems to watch the whole development. Thereby he resembles one of the figures of Michelangelo's ceiling fresco in the Sistine Chapel.

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This caricature offers various starting points for an art-historical analysis. It was published three years after Darwin’s work (1871). Here, Darwin finally takes a stand and argues that humans and monkeys share a common ancestor. In the caricature, however, this view is put into question. Moreover it goes back on the widespread assumption that humans exhibit certain animal features – the ape as a mirror for humankind so to speak. In this respect the caricature stands also in the tradition of vanitas which is symbolized by the hand mirror reflecting human stupidity. The fact that the ape-like Darwin is holding the mirror and not the real ape shows that Darwin and his theory should be ridiculed. Darwin himself has acknowledged that “[he] has given man a pedigree of prodigious length, but not, it may be said, of noble quality.” Consequently, the ape is not enhanced in status through his kinship with man.