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Against the backdrop of a rose-covered trellis, a mystical man whispers in the ear of a young nude woman.

In this black ink drawing, a man with long, wavy hair and winged feet gracefully steps to his right to whisper into the ear of a young nude woman standing beside him. He wears a flowing, flower-patterned robe, and holds in his left hand a slender staff, from which hangs a lantern. Behind both figures is a large trellis covered with roses, some of which have fallen to the ground.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1943.633
People
Aubrey Vincent Beardsley, British (Brighton, England 1872 - 1898 Menton, France)
Title
The Mysterious Rose Garden
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
1894
Culture
British
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/298243

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Black ink and graphite on white wove paper
Dimensions
22.4 x 12.5 cm (8 13/16 x 4 15/16 in.)

State, Edition, Standard Reference Number

Standard Reference Number
Zatlin 914

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.633
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. 45
  • Linda Gertner Zatlin, Aubrey Beardsley and Victorian Sexual Politics, The Clarendon Press (Oxford, England, 1990), pp. 61, 63, fig. 23
  • Chris Snodgrass, Aubrey Beardsley: Dandy of the Grotesque, Oxford University Press (NY) and Oxford University Press (UK) (New York, NY and Oxford, England, 1995), fig. 6-12, pp. 270-275
  • 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. 50, repr. (color)
  • Stefan Weppelmann and Ruben Rebmann, ed., The Botticelli Renaissance, exh. cat., Gemäldegalerie Berlin (Berlin, 2015), p. 85, repr. p. 85 as fig. 43
  • Linda Gertner Zatlin, Aubrey Beardsley: A Catalogue Raisonné, Yale University Press (U.S.) (New Haven and London, 2016), vol. 2, no. 914, pp. 13, 112, 169, 114-115, 249, repr. p. 114
  • Mark Evans and Stefan Weppelmann, Botticelli Reimagined, exh. cat., V & A Publishing (London, 2016), p. 85, repr. p. 85 as fig. 43
  • Stephen Calloway and Caroline Corbeau-Parsons, ed., Aubrey Beardsley, exh. cat., Tate Publishing (London, 2020), p. 27

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
  • 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
  • 32Q: 2100 19th Century, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 11/10/2015

Subjects and Contexts

  • Google Art Project

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