ARTWORKS

Design for the Frontispiece to John Davidson’s Plays

Aubrey Beardsley (1872–1898)

Tate

Design for the Frontispiece to John Davidson’s Plays
Design for the Frontispiece to John Davidson’s Plays
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Image credit: Tate

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This does not apparently show a scene from one of Davidson's plays, but is instead a series of caricatures of notable figures of the day. At the centre, the cloaked figure is Sir Augustus Harris, the manager of the Covent Garden, Drury Lane and Her Majesty's theatres. A corpulent Oscar Wilde is portrayed as Bacchus, and beside him the nude woman is Beardsley's sister Mabel, an actress. The faun is Henry Harland, literary editor of the 'Yellow Book', the masked figure is the poet Richard Le Gallienne, and the ballerina is the dancer Adeline Genee.

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Title

Design for the Frontispiece to John Davidson’s Plays

Date

1894

Medium

Ink and graphite on paper

Measurements

H 28.6 x W 18.7 cm

Accession number

N04172

Acquisition method

Bequeathed by John Lane 1926

Work type

Drawing

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Artist or maker

Aubrey Beardsley

1872–1898

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