Arthur Rackham | Eight original illustrations for the Vicar of Wakefield

Arthur Rackham

Eight original illustrations for the Vicar of Wakefield, comprising:

i)“An epitaph for my wife”, 232 x 165mm. (9⅛ x 6½ inches), ink and watercolour drawing on paper, signed lower right

Reproduced as a colour plate in The Vicar of Wakefield, 1929, plate 1

ii) “Closeted up with the fortune-teller”, 270 x 194mm. (10⅝ x 7⅝ inches), ink and watercolour drawing on paper, signed lower right

Reproduced as a colour plate in The Vicar of Wakefield, 1929, plate 4

iii) “Mr. Burchell at the conclusion of every sentence would cry out ‘Fudge!’”, 273 x 210mm. (10¾ x 8¼ inches), ink and watercolour drawing on paper, signed lower left

Reproduced as a colour plate in The Vicar of Wakefield, 1929, plate 5

iv) "A gross of green spectacles", 210 x 165mm. (8¼ x 6½ inches), ink and watercolour drawing on paper, signed lower left

Reproduced as a colour plate for The Vicar of Wakefield, 1929, plate 6

v) “This is the very same rogue who sold us the spectacles”, 209 x 139mm. (8¼ x 5½ inches), ink and watercolour drawing on paper, signed lower left

Reproduced as a colour plate in The Vicar of Wakefield, 1929, plate 7

vi) “I caught the dear forlorn wretch in my arms”, 235 x 184mm. (9¼ x 7¼ inches), ink and watercolour drawing on paper, signed and dated ’29 lower left

Reproduced as a colour plate in The Vicar of Wakefield, 1929, plate 9

vii) “I found the prisoners very merry, expecting my arrival”, 209 x 149mm. (8¼ x 5⅞ inches), ink and watercolour drawing on paper, signed lower right

Reproduced as a colour plate in The Vicar of Wakefield, 1929, plate 11

viii) “My dearest girl entered”, 228 x 171mm. (9 x 6¾ inches), ink and watercolour drawing on paper, signed lower left

Reproduced as a colour plate in The Vicar of Wakefield, 1929, plate 12

The Vicar of Wakefield was one of the most popular novels of the Victorian era.

"In the England of jazz and Noel Coward the whimsical and fantastic had grown increasingly out of fashion. With The Vicar of Wakefield of 1929 ... Rackham played it safe by turning to historical costume... in which he had long been supremely accomplished and successful" (Hudson 126).

PROVENANCE

Exhibited Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 1974