Victorian Art
& Design
Beardsley and Smithers
Leonard Smithers was
a rather odd bookseller who decided to become a
publisher. He invited Beardsley to become the Art Editor of a new periodical
called The Savoy. The first volume was published in January 1896. The
eighth and last volume came out in December 1896. By then Smithers had run out of money and
Beardsley had become too ill to keep up a regular supply of drawings.
In spite
of his ill health Beardsley illustrated a number of books for Smithers to publish. The
first was Pope's poem The Rape of the Lock. When Whistler saw these
drawings he told Beardsley that he was a genius.
In April 1897, on Doctor's orders, Beardsley left England for France. He died at Menton in the south of France in March 1898 of tuberculosis (TB). His last drawings were for Ben Jonson's 17th century play, Volpone. He only completed a cover, a frontispiece and five pencilled initials. One of them is shown on the right.
Beardsley worked almost entirely in black and white. His early drawings
were influenced by Burne-Jones, the later ones by Japanese prints and
Greek vases and then by French engravings.
Beardsley Quiz