The cistern
Date2011
Artist
Barry Moser
(American illustrator, painter, printmaker, and author, born 1940)
Illustration CitationSalomé: A Tragedy in One Act by Oscar Wilde, translated by Joseph Donohue (University of Virginia Press 2011)
MediumWood engraving
Dimensionscomposition: 4 1/8 × 5 3/16 in. (10.5 × 13.2 cm)
sheet: 9 3/8 × 6 in. (23.8 × 15.2 cm)
sheet: 9 3/8 × 6 in. (23.8 × 15.2 cm)
Credit LineAcquisition Fund, 2015
Object number2015-5.10
On View
Not on viewClassificationsPRINT
Label TextThis image of the cistern in which Iokanaan is imprisoned includes a robed figure holding the executioner’s sword (first seen in the title page vignette). It is not a moment specifically described in the immediate accompanying text, but instead inserts a clever bit of foreshadowing in the unfolding drama.