Mysteries Of Udolpho

Description: Mysteries Of Udolpho. This is 1830s, another edition for the broad market was published and the signature scene of the black veil was chosen as the motif for one of the two frontispieces (Fig. 6).Footnote 11 It appeared in the series Dove’s English Classics by J. F. Dove in a small format that was fitting for a lengthy reading session and with an uniformed design of the book covers that was intended to spark the desire to collect and complete the series.Footnote 12 Including the novels in an English Classic Series contributed to the legitimization of the Gothic titles as belonging to the English literary canon. It was a common feature for such series to contain images. In the Dove edition of the Mysteries of Udolpho, the artist was Henry Corbould (1787–1844),Footnote 13 son of Richard Corbould (1757–1831), who also was an artist known mostly for his landscapes. In his version of the episode, he returns to the older two-person scheme as used by Maradan (Fig. 1) and The Veiled Picture (Fig. 3). The structure of the latter is almost mirrored vertically in Corbould’s design with its slanted course of the wall, the heavily cut veil, and the anxiously crouched Annette.Footnote 14 However, the artist changed the angle of Emily’s head: her gaze is still fixed onto the veil, her chin is slightly lifted and therefore she appears to be challenging her undertaking. Her expressions do not give away too much of her possible emotions and she has already grabbed an edge of the veil. The composition addresses the viewer directly. Although it is Emily’s bright dress that catches the viewer’s attention first, it is the anxious face of Annette enlightened by the lamp she is carrying that is emphasized even more through the contrast of the dark sphere surrounding her. The servant’s posture is slightly angled to the left, indicating her unease and wanting to flee the situation. Because of this mis-en-scene Emily remains the focus, but her companion’s position is crucial to the understanding and the building of suspense in this setting: Annette’s right arm and her cowered head are the starting point of an ascending composition line that is continued via Emily’s gesture, raising her head and the left arm towards the curtain.Footnote 15 This ‘opening’ structure is supported by the lighting: the light cone grows from Annette and finds its widest range on the right side. Here, the accentuation through contrast from the left is answered by Emily’s pale hand, framed by its dark shadow, again connecting the fear with its trigger. The caption, “Take the light Annette while I lift the veil”, only describes what can be seen. Despite not adding to the narrative, it supports Emily as an adventurous and active character. Through the composition with the heroine pulling the fabric away from the viewer’s perspective, the impression is given that at the very moment Emily lifts the veil the viewer would also see what lies behind it. Neither The Veiled Picture nor the Limbird edition (Fig. 5) convey this action as a shared experience for heroine and viewer. In line with the story, Corbould includes the initial setup of the contemplation context: Opposite the wall, an armchair provides the possibility to rest in front of the niche and sink into one’s own thoughts. Both the chair and the veiled frame in front of it are bound on a visual level as they are heavily cut by the borders of the image field. This arrangement can be ‘read’ and fully understood after the final unveiling of the mystery. Before that, it further fuels the disregard and distrust against Signor Montoni and his implied behavior of spending time immersed in what at this point is believed to be a picture with “something very dreadful belonging to it”.

Price: 1750 USD

Location: Sparks, Nevada

End Time: 2024-11-16T20:22:21.000Z

Shipping Cost: 12.99 USD