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Source Description
In this drawing, Aubrey Beardsley illustrates an early scene in Alexander Pope’s satirical masterpiece <em>The Rape of the Lock</em> (1712) in which the heroine, Belinda, primps in her boudoir. Reflecting the poem’s emphasis on contrived rather than natural beauty, the drawing is densely layered with artifice. A view of an idyllic garden with a cupola-topped pavilion is glimpsed not through a window as it would first seem, but on a folding screen. The bejeweled bottles littering the table serve as emblems of Belinda’s vanity.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
130369
label
The Toilet, from The Rape of the Lock by Alexander Pope
core
obj
dtoType
drawing
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
130369
contentType
drawing
title
The Toilet, from The Rape of the Lock by Alexander Pope
description
In this drawing, Aubrey Beardsley illustrates an early scene in Alexander Pope’s satirical masterpiece <em>The Rape of the Lock</em> (1712) in which the heroine, Belinda, primps in her boudoir. Reflecting the poem’s emphasis on contrived rather than natural beauty, the drawing is densely layered with artifice. A view of an idyllic garden with a cupola-topped pavilion is glimpsed not through a window as it would first seem, but on a folding screen. The bejeweled bottles littering the table serve as emblems of Belinda’s vanity.
date
c. 1895–96
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q79912100
creators
1385
genreSpecific
Drawing
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Sheet: 25.6 x 17.4 cm (10 1/16 x 6 7/8 in.)
cul
England, 19th century
accession
1953.136
Source extras
tec
pen and black ink with traces of graphite underdrawing
tombstone
The Toilet, from The Rape of the Lock by Alexander Pope, c. 1895–96. Aubrey Beardsley (British, 1872–1898). Pen and black ink with traces of graphite underdrawing; sheet: 25.6 x 17.4 cm (10 1/16 x 6 7/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Dudley P. Allen Fund, 1953.136
collection
DR - British
didYouKnow
After a rapid rise to fame and notoriety, Aubrey Beardsley produced hundreds of drawings before falling victim to tuberculosis at the age of 25.
citations
citation
Pope, Alexander. <em>The Rape of the Lock: An Heroi-comical Poem in Five Cantos. </em>London: Leonard Smithers, 1896.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 8
citation
Marillier, H.C.. <em>The Later Work of Aubrey Beardsley. </em>New York: John Lane, 1920.
page_number
Reproduced: pl. 88
citation
Hind, Lewis C.. <em>The Uncollected Work of Aubrey Beardsley.</em> London: John Lane; New York: Dodd, Mead and Company,1925.
page_number
Mentioned: p. ix, no. 16
citation
Gallatin, A. E. <em>Aubrey Beardsley; Catalogue of Drawings and Bibliography</em>. New York: Grolier Club, 1945.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 63, no. 1036
citation
Walker, R.A.. <em>The Best of Beardsley. </em>London: Bodley Head, 1948.
page_number
Reproduced: pl. 61
citation
Hölscher, Eberhard von. <em>Aubrey Beardsley.</em> Hamburg: Ernst Hauswedell, 1949.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 40
citation
Reade, Brian and Frank Dickinson. <em>Aubrey Beardsley ; Exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum</em>. Exh. Cat. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1966.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 227, no. 506
citation
Reade, Brian. <em>Aubrey Beardsley</em>. New York: The Viking Press, 1967.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 352, no. 406
citation
Ross, Robert Baldwin. <em>Aubrey Beardsley</em>. New York: Jack Brussel,1967.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 26; Mentioned: p. 102, no. 144
citation
Reade, Brian and Raymond Rohauer. <em>Aubrey Beardsley</em>. Exh. Cat. New York: Foundation for Modern Art, 1967.
page_number
Mentioned: no. 199
citation
Halsband, Robert. <em>The Rape of the Lock and Its Illustrations, 1714-1896</em>. New York: Oxford University Press, 1980.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 98, no. 48
citation
Wilson, Simon. <em>Beardsley</em>. Oxford: Phaidon, 1983.
page_number
Reproduced: fig. 29
citation
Miller, J. Hillis. "The Mirror's Secret: Dante Gabriel Rossetti's Double Work of Art." In <em>Contemporary Critics Look at Victorian Poetry,</em> 333-49. Morgantown: West Virginia University Press, 1991.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 342, 348; Reproduced: fig. 8
url
www.jstor.org/stable/40003000
citation
Takashina, Shūji and Nobuyuki Senzoku, eds. <em>Western Art: Fin du siècle and Symbolism</em>. Vol. 24 of <em>New History of World Art</em>. Tokyo: Shōgakkan, 1996.
page_number
Reproduced: no. 177
citation
Zatlin, Linda Gertner. <em>Aubrey Beardsley: A Catalogue Raisonné</em>. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 215-16; Reproduced: p. 215, fig. 979
creditline
Dudley P. Allen Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 06:44:14.822000
sourceId
130369
dept
Drawings
coll
DR - British
med
pen and black ink with traces of graphite underdrawing
creatorTags
male
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
cf80208a2ee35da1