Menalcus Watching Women Dance, from Thornton's "Pastorals of Virgil" (1821, Met-Objekt 3871)
Original title: Menalcus Watching Women Dance, from Thornton's "Pastorals of Virgil"
kurzbeschreibung
Where many illustrations of Virgil's Pastorals from the same period pile on detail, this 1821 wood engraving by William Blake goes the other way and trusts plainness. Blake made it for Robert John Thornton's edition of the Pastorals of Virgil. Three women dance at the front of the picture while two seated figures play instruments beside them. The sheet is horizontal and printed in black and white.
Description
Three women in loose, flowing robes move through the middle of the image, arms lifted, their faces strongly marked. A classical building with columns and a pediment suggests a Greco-Roman setting. To either side, two people sit on chairs, one with a song toy, the other with a stringed instrument. Everything is monochrome, evenly lit, with no visible shadows.
Context
The illustration belongs to Robert John Thornton's school edition of the Pastorals of Virgil, published in 1821 and widely popular. Thornton commissioned the wood engravings from Blake after similar work he had done for other literary publications. The small size, roughly 3.7 by 7.9 centimetres, matched the usual format for book vignettes of the period.
Impact
Clean lines and an uncluttered layout give the print a quiet, almost idyllic mood. Small as it is, the dance stays lively and graceful, which strengthens the pastoral atmosphere of Virgil's text.
Technique
The design was cut into a wood block and printed onto paper. The varied linework and careful finish show Blake's skill in a process that was common for nineteenth-century book illustration.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)