Old King Cole

Dapper King – Roaring Twenties

Pogany’s 1928 illustration pictures the king, in tuxedo, top hat, and spats, sitting high on his throne. The three fiddlers, also wearing formal attire, are bowing in the foreground. Two servants, one delivering a drink and the other a pipe and tobacco seem to be dressed in clothing from another era, perhaps the colonial period. All but the king are seen from the rear, so it is only his face that is visible. Viewers’ eyes are drawn up the green carpet to focus on the king and then up to the huge crown and the crowned lions above his head in the border which also serves as the walls of the throne room.