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A portrait of a young woman wearing a striped, Medieval-style dress, with ribbons and a feather in her long hair.

This black ink drawing shows a young woman from the waist up, facing at a quarter angle to the viewer. Her striped, Medieval-style dress reveals a bare neck and bustline. Wrapped into her long, wavy hair are a white ribbon and a large feather. The background is a simple black silhouette of grasses with white flowers and a single tree. The name Venus is written in the lower-left corner.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1943.646
People
Aubrey Vincent Beardsley, British (Brighton, England 1872 - 1898 Menton, France)
Title
Venus
Other Titles
Alternate Title: Venus (Title-page design for "The Story of Venus and Tannhäuser")
Series/Book Title: The Story of Venus and Tannhauser
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
1895
Culture
British
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/297991

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Black ink and graphite on white paper
Dimensions
11.3 x 8.1 cm (4 7/16 x 3 3/16 in.)

State, Edition, Standard Reference Number

Standard Reference Number
Zatlin 919

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.646
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

THIS WORK MAY NOT BE LENT BY THE TERMS OF ITS ACQUISITION TO THE HARVARD ART MUSEUMS.

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Publication History

  • Joseph Pennell, Catalogue of an Exhibition of Original Drawings by Aubrey Beardsley, exh. cat., Brooklyn Museum (Brooklyn, NY, 1923), no. 75
  • Linda Gertner Zatlin, Aubrey Beardsley: A Catalogue Raisonné, Yale University Press (U.S.) (New Haven and London, 2016), vol. 2, no. 919, pp. 121-122, repr. p. 121
  • Carey Dunne, Flowers of Evil and the Macabre Literary Imagination of Symbolism, Hyperalleric (July 4, 2016), [e-journal], http://hyperallergic.com/305877/flowers-of-evil-and-the-macabre-literary-imagination-of-symbolism/, accessed January 9, 2017

Exhibition History

  • An Exhibition of Original Drawings by Aubrey Beardsley, Brooklyn Museum, 12/19/1923 - 01/31/1924; Milwaukee Art Institute, 10/01/1924 - 10/30/1924; Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, 11/01/1924 - 11/30/1924; Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester, Rochester, 11/29/1924 - 12/31/1924

Verification Level

This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator; it may be inaccurate or incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu