The Peacock Skirt
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: 8 15/16 × 6 3/8 in. (22.7 × 16.2 cm)
sheet: 13 5/16 × 10 5/16 in. (33.8 × 26.2 cm)
sheet: 13 5/16 × 10 5/16 in. (33.8 × 26.2 cm)
Credit LineAcquisition Fund, 2010
Object number2010-31.5
On View
Not on viewClassificationsPRINT
Label TextThis first illustration within the body of the text does not appear to reference any particular occurrence in the drama. A riot of line and pattern, the composition is dominated by two attenuated, androgynous figures, the larger of the pair—undoubtedly Salomé—enveloped in a swirl of fabric covered in peacock feather motif. The smaller figure, ensnared in the flare of the skirt, may well be the Young Syrian, whose unrequited infatuation with Salomé ends in suicide.
