‘The examination of the herald’, by Aubrey Beardsley

[Victorian Web Home — Visual Arts —> Illustration —> Aubrey Beardsley —> Next]

The examination of the herald

Aubrey Beardsley

Photo-mechanical reproduction of a pen and ink drawing

10 x 7 inches

The Lysistrata of Aristophanes.

Beardsley at this most obscene, or ridiculous, depending on your point of view. [Commentary continues below.]

Click on image to enlarge it, and mouse over the text for links.

Scanned image and text by Simon Cooke.

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

In this design Beardsley proceeds from the textual specification that the men are overburdened because they cannot make love their wives. There is a bizarre disparity between the burlesque obscenity and the casual expressions of the two characters, questioning the limits of censorship and asking the viewer to consider if this is pornography, or sophisticated ridicule.

Bibliography

The Lysistrata of Aristophanes. London [Leonard Smithers], 1896.

Created 1 March 2021