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King Herod gazes at the partially undressed Salome while two small, nude boy servants carry an elaborate candelabrum.

In this intricate black ink drawing, King Herod appears as a ghostly white figure with long hair and beard. He gazes upward at Salome, who wears peacock feathers in her hair and a loose white gown that reveals her right breast. In between them, two small, nude boy servants carry an elaborate black candelabrum with five tall lit candles. To the left is a small garden with a peacock, flowering vines on a trellis, and two tall trees.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1943.631
People
Aubrey Vincent Beardsley, British (Brighton, England 1872 - 1898 Menton, France)
Title
The Eyes of Herod
Other Titles
Series/Book Title: Salome
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
1893
Culture
British
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/298242

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Black ink and graphite on white wove paper
Dimensions
22.9 x 16.9 cm (9 x 6 5/8 in.)

State, Edition, Standard Reference Number

Standard Reference Number
Zatlin 869

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.631
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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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. 28
  • Blake to Beardsley: A Century of English Illustrators, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1944), no. 2
  • Linda Gertner Zatlin, Aubrey Beardsley and Victorian Sexual Politics, The Clarendon Press (Oxford, England, 1990), p. 94, fig. 47
  • Robert Atkins, Artspoke: A guide to Modern Ideas, Movements, and Buzzwords, 1848-1944, Abbeville Press (New York, 1993), repr. p. 74
  • Carole Silver, Strange and Secret Peoples: Fairies and Victorian Consciousness, Oxford University Press (NY) and Oxford University Press (UK) (New York, NY, 1999), p. 139, repr. p. 140
  • Mark Samuels Lasner, "The Pursuit of the Rare: Three Early Beardsley Collectors", Gazette of the Grolier Club (2000), no. 51, p. 17, note 34
  • Chikashi Kitazaki and Mina Oya, ed., Between Reality and Dreams: Nineteenth Century British and French Art from the Winthrop Collection of the Fogg Art Museum, exh. cat., National Museum of Western Art (Ueno, 2002), cat. no. 48-6, repr. (color)
  • Linda Gertner Zatlin, Aubrey Beardsley: A Catalogue Raisonné, Yale University Press (U.S.) (New Haven and London, 2016), vol. 2, no. 869, pp. 10, 11, 28-30, 32, 171, repr. p. 29

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
  • Blake to Beardsley: A Century of English Illustrators, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 06/01/1944 - 06/30/1944
  • Between Reality and Dreams: Nineteenth Century British and French Art from the Winthrop Collection of the Fogg Art Museum, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 09/14/2002 - 12/08/2002

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be 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