[Ellen Monroe becomes a sculptor’s model] — illustration for G. W. M. Reynolds’s “The Mysteries of London” by G. Stiff

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Ellen Monroe becomes a sculptor’s model

G. Stiff

c. 1843

Wood engraving

Source: The Hathi Trust version of G. W. M. Reynolds’s The Mysteries of London 1.169

The illustration, which depicts a passage in Chapter 56, appears a chapter earlier.

Click on image to enlarge it and see commentary below,

The many occupations of Ellen Monroe

[You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit Project Gutenberg and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one. — George P. Landow]

Passage illustrated

The statuary was an Italian; and as he spoke the English language imperfectly, he did not waste much time over the bargain. With the cool criticism of a sportsman examining a horse or a dog, the statuary gazed upon the young maiden; then, taking a rule in his hand, he measured her head; and with a pair of blunt compasses he took the dimensions of her features. Giving a nod of approval, he consulted a large book which lay open upon a desk; and finding that he had orders for a queen, an opera-dancer, and a Madonna, he declared that he would take three casts of his new model's countenance that very morning. . . . Ellen was stretched at full length upon a table; and a wet cloth was placed over her face. The statuary then covered it with moist clay; — and the process was only complete when she was ready to faint through difficulty of breathing. She rested a little while; and then the second cast was taken. Another interval to recover breath — and the third and last mould was formed. — Chapter 56, “The Road to Ruin” [1.173]

Passage illustrated

This illustration is remarkable on several counts —— remarkable meaning worth a comment or two but surely not praiseworthy. First of all it is highly unusual to encounter illustrations of a nude women in Victorian book illustration, and second this plate makes clear what a mediocre artist Stiff was. The arms of both Ellen and the statue look like noodles, and the statue’s lower leg is much too short. Illustrations like this one and Reynold’s women of upper and lower classes who become pregnant out of wedlock, as much as his radical politics and attacks on the British establishment, explain why Dickens and other novelists scorned him even though he often anticipates many of their themes, settings, plots, and characters. — George P. Landow

Bibliography

Reynolds, George W. M. The Mysteries of London. vol 1. London: George Vickers, 1846. Hathi Trust Digital Library. Web. 6 October 2016.

Last modified 6 October 2016