Sketch for Front Cover Design
Date1906
Artist
Aubrey Vincent Beardsley
(British draftsman, illustrator and writer, 1872–1898)
Illustration CitationA Portfolio of Aubrey Beardsley's drawings illustrating "Salome," by Oscar Wilde (John Lane: London, c. 1906)
MediumOffset lithograph
Dimensionscomposition: 9 3/16 × 7 5/16 in. (23.3 × 18.6 cm)
sheet: 13 1/4 × 10 1/4 in. (33.7 × 26 cm)
sheet: 13 1/4 × 10 1/4 in. (33.7 × 26 cm)
Credit LineAcquisition Fund, 2010
Object number2010-31.3
On View
Not on viewClassificationsPRINT
Label TextThis image for the cover design of the 1894 edition of Wilde’s play is historically titled as a “sketch.” It was not used in the final publication. Beardsley’s emblematic signature—three vertical slashes with three leaves (or upside-down hearts) below the center line—is incorporated into the design at lower center. The peacock feather motif—here stylized and integrated into a repeated pattern—was a favorite among artists of the Aesthetic Movement.
