Fotoreproductie van een tekening door Randolph Caldecott, voorstellend twee zwanen op de waterkant en een kikker die in het water een krant leest before 1887

This is a photoreproduction of a drawing by Randolph Caldecott, depicting two swans on the waterfront and a frog reading a newspaper in the water. Caldecott was working on a cat sculpture, using live and dead models. He also spent Christmas Eve at the British Museum drawing and measuring the skeleton of a stork. He also examined stork wings for insertion. It seems like he was dedicated to his work! This image can be seen as more than just a whimsical scene. It encapsulates the Victorian era's fascination with both the natural world and the burgeoning culture of literacy and news consumption. The tension between naturalism and the industrial revolution come to the fore. Caldecott merges human and animal, blurring the lines, and inviting us to reflect on our own place in the world. The drawing was sent as a Christmas card with letters and colored sketches to a child of six years old. This image is a whimsical snapshot of a moment in time, seen through the eyes of an adult, reimagined for a child.