Drawings from an edition of Alfred Tennyson’s Poems illustrated by British artist Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale (1872–1945) which was published by George Bell & Sons in 1905. The book was part of a series of illustrated poetry collections that included several books featured here in previous posts: Poems by John Keats and Poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley both illustrated by Robert Anning Bell, and The Poems of Edgar Allan Poe illustrated by William Heath Robinson. There was also an edition of Browning illustrated by Byam Shaw at whose art school Ms Fortescue-Brickdale was employed as a teacher. Her Tennyson drawings aren’t entirely to my taste, I’ve omitted the full-page works which are rather static pre-Raphaelite-derived things. Far better are these vignettes whose heavy outlines and sinuous curves resemble both Heath Robinson’s early illustrations and Pamela Coleman Smith‘s famous Tarot card designs. As usual the Internet Archive has the whole book and (should anyone require more Tennyson) Ms Fortescue-Brickdale’s take on that Victorian staple Idylls of the King.
Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
• The illustrators archive
Ah these illustrators, a seemingly inexhaustible source of loveliness hidden in plain sight. I don’t know if you know of her, but here is another of my own accidental discoveries-
http://www.cfmgallery.com/Anne-Bachelier/Anne-Bachelier-Books/Anne-Bachelier-Phantom-Artwork.html
Thanks, Wiley, hadn’t seen those before. (And a belated response, it’s been a busy week.) Gorgeous work. I’m surprised more people don’t do something with The Phantom of the Opera, despite the wretched musical it’s a good subject for a certain kind of Romantic artist.