Illustration for the poem "the saturnalia" by walter thornbury, once a week magazine, volume 8, page 154. The roman festival saturnalia was a topsy-turvy day when slaves dressed up as masters. In this 1863 poem, thornbury, by way of a racialized depiction of the festival, imagines the horrors of licence that would ensue if modern-day slaves got the upper hand on their masters. The illustrator g. J. Pinwell lays out the implications by adding peacock feathers and a mirror (symbols of vanity) and a monkey (symbol of both licentiousness and mindless imitation). Date: 31 January 1863.
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