Young Woman Surrounded by Briars, Lightning and Roses (Chapter Heading, "Le Morte d'Arthur," J. M. Dent 1893–94, Part III, book vi, chapter xvii, p. 215 and Part VII, book x, chapter xxii, p. 500)

Young Woman Surrounded by Briars, Lightning and Roses (Chapter Heading, "Le Morte d'Arthur," J. M. Dent 1893–94, Part III, book vi, chapter xvii, p. 215 and Part VII, book x, chapter xxii, p. 500)

Aubrey Vincent Beardsley

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Beardsley created this stylized image of a woman with long, loose hair, dressed in a shift and standing before a background of stylized roses and thorny branches for J. M. Dent's 1893–94 edition of "Le Morte Darthur." It appears twice, at the head of chapter titled "How Sir Launcelot Overtook a Knight Which Chased His Wife to Have Slain Her, and How He Said to Him," and is again to adorn one titled: "How King Arthur Made King Mark to be Accorded with Sir Tristram, and How They Departed to Cornwall." The image does not obviously illustrate either portion of text.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Young Woman Surrounded by Briars, Lightning and Roses (Chapter Heading, "Le Morte d'Arthur," J. M. Dent 1893–94, Part III, book vi, chapter xvii, p. 215 and Part VII, book x, chapter xxii, p. 500)Young Woman Surrounded by Briars, Lightning and Roses (Chapter Heading, "Le Morte d'Arthur," J. M. Dent 1893–94, Part III, book vi, chapter xvii, p. 215 and Part VII, book x, chapter xxii, p. 500)Young Woman Surrounded by Briars, Lightning and Roses (Chapter Heading, "Le Morte d'Arthur," J. M. Dent 1893–94, Part III, book vi, chapter xvii, p. 215 and Part VII, book x, chapter xxii, p. 500)Young Woman Surrounded by Briars, Lightning and Roses (Chapter Heading, "Le Morte d'Arthur," J. M. Dent 1893–94, Part III, book vi, chapter xvii, p. 215 and Part VII, book x, chapter xxii, p. 500)Young Woman Surrounded by Briars, Lightning and Roses (Chapter Heading, "Le Morte d'Arthur," J. M. Dent 1893–94, Part III, book vi, chapter xvii, p. 215 and Part VII, book x, chapter xxii, p. 500)

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.