"Florence kissed him on the cheek" by W. H. C. Groome: third lithograph for Dickens's "Dombey and Son" (1900) (original) (raw)

Florence kissed him on the cheek

W. H. C. Groome

1900

12 x 8.2 cm, framed

Lithograph

Dickens's Dombey and Son (pp. 426 + 422), facing p. 225.

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Scanned image and text byPhilip V. Allingham.

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The Victorian Web

Passage Illustrated: Florence at The Little Midshipman

"Why, Uncle!" exclaimed Walter. "What’s the matter?"

Old Solomon replied, "Miss Dombey!"

"Is it possible?" cried Walter, looking round and starting up in his turn. "Here!"

Why, It was so possible and so actual, that, while the words were on his lips, Florence hurried past him; took Uncle Sol’s snuff-coloured lapels, one in each hand; kissed him on the cheek; and turning, gave her hand to Walter with a simple truth and earnestness that was her own, and no one else’s in the world!

"Going away, Walter?" said Florence.

"Yes, Miss Dombey," he replied, but not so hopefully as he endeavoured: "I have a voyage before me." [Chapter XIX, "Walter goes away," 260]

Commentary: The Story's Chief Setting

Groome provides only the sketchiest of background details to suggest that the physical setting is the back parlour of The Little Midshipman, one of the novel's principal settings. His choice of narrative moment realised permits him to underscore the wealthy Florence's relationship with the atypical, lower middle-class family that befriends her when she escapes her abduction by Mrs. Brown, and provides her with a nurturing home when her father's second marriage collapses. Sol Gills and Captain Cuttle are better father figures for Florence than her biological father, the aloof and unsmiling Mr. Dombey.

Relevant Illustrations from Other Editions (1847-1877)

Left: Phiz's original illustration of Florence and Susan Nipper arriving at the marine store shop: The Wooden Midshipman on the Look-Out (March, 1847). Centre: Sol Eytinge, Jr.'s dual study of the nautical characters: Sol. Gills and Walter Gay (1867). Right: Fred Barnard's realisation of the same scene suggests that it may have been the basis for Groome's choice: "Took Uncle Sol's snuff-coloured lapels, one in each hand; kissed him on the cheek," etc. (1877).

Bibliography

Dickens, Charles. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by W. H. C. Groome. London and Glasgow, 1900, rpt. 1934. 2 vols. in one.

Created 23 January 2021