Images of Charles Darwin at the American Philosophical Society

Most 19th century Europeans and Americans discovered and learned about science—including Charles Darwin’s works—through popular culture—newspapers and magazines, museums, or through biographical works.  By the time that Darwin was elected to membership in the American Philosophical Society, he already was the 19th century equivalent of a celebrity scientist:  revered, but also criticized and even caricatured.  The American Philosophical Society has some of the most well known caricatures of Darwin, all of which date from the period immediately following the publication of Descent of Man.

1.  “A Venerable Ourang-Outang : A Contribution to Unnatural History.”  The Hornet, 22 March 1871.

Earlier cartoons had depicted apes or people joking about Darwin believing that humans were descended from apes, but after Descent of Man was published in 1871, cartoonists began to depict Darwin himself as an ape, with monkeys, and in jungles.  Darwin enjoyed these representations.  “I keep all those things,” he told a friend in 1872.  “Have you seen me in the Hornet?”

2.  “Men of the Day No. 33.”  Vanity Fair, 1871 September 30.

Vanity Fair featured a somewhat more flattering caricature of Darwin, with a lengthy description on its verso of how Darwin “has become one of the most accomplished naturalists now in existence, and any theoretical structure that he builds upon his researches must be regarded with great respect.” Still, they remained a bit skeptical, noting that “to ordinary men the chain of inferences seems to be very loosely hung together by which he seeks to establish that the various species of animals now existing on the earth inherit all their immense dissimilarities from a common ancestor, and that they have acquired their wide differences of development simply from individual aberrations.”  They concluded that Darwin’s work would, if nothing else, “remain to all time, if nothing else, at least a record of earnest and honest devotion to the solution of the most momentous of the problems by which mankind are surrounded.”

3.  “Natural Selection.”  Source unknown.  Prints and Photographs Collection.

The "Natural Selection" image (6) is similar to the Hornet  image, but a bit more flattering to Darwin, depicting him in a jungle, but with somewhat less simian features.  Darwin was easy to portray as an ape and as a result of these caricatures became much more associated with the theory of evolution than any of his contemporaries.

4.  Goodwin, Albert.  Sketch of Charles Darwin, his wife Emma Wedgwood Darwin, their grandson, and a dog.  n.d. (ca. 1875).  Charles Darwin Papers.

5.  Unidentified photographer.  Charles Darwin, photograph of portrait.  Prints and Photographs Collection.

6.  Unidentified artist.  Emma Darwin, engraving.  Prints and Photographs Collection.

The collection includes one example of original artwork, this sheet of sketches by the English artist Albert Goodwin of Darwin, his wife Emma, a grandson, and a dog.  Known for his watercolors, Goodwin also painted Down House and several other scenes in the English countryside.  The portraits of Darwin and his wife on either side of the portrait are from roughly the same time period as the sketch.

7.   “Prof. Darwin.”  Figaro’s London Sketch Book of Celebrities, 18 February 1874.  Prints and Photographs Collection.

This classic caricature of Darwin showing him as an ape, looking into a mirror with an ape includes a short extract from Shakespeare.

8.  Hosler, Jay. The Sandwalk Adventures.  Collection of Dr. Martin L. Levitt.

Graphic novel about a dialogue between Charles Darwin and a mite who lives in his eyebrow and who initially believes that Darwin is a god.  Through a series of dialogues, Darwin teaches his tiny friend about evolution.