print;
book-illustration
- Museum number
- 1896,1019.176
- Title
- Object: Corruptio Optimi Pessima
- Description
-
Head and shoulders of a man, lips parted, with snakes emanating from his winged head. 1893
Woodcut
- Production date
- 1893
- Dimensions
-
Height: 196 millimetres (image)
-
Height: 280 millimetres (sheet)
-
Width: 124 millimetres (image)
-
Width: 201 millimetres (sheet)
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- This Symbolist work is related to others, mostly coloured chalk drawings, from the 1880s for which the disembodied head was a leitmotif. The use of the masculine for 'optimi' (rather than optimae) shows that the figure is intended to be male, though it is certainly androgynous. A related drawing of 1884 was exhibited in 'The Age of Rossetti, Burne-Jones and Watts: Symbolism in Britain 1860-1910', Tate 1997-8, no.108 (private collection, rep.). A black chalk drawing, signed and inscribed 'Corruptio Optimi Pessima' was sold 13.iii.1990/22 (current location unknown).
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
2014-15 Sept - Jan.London, BM, Witches and Wicked Bodies
- Acquisition date
- 1896
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1896,1019.176
