The Nun in "Count Burckhardt" (for "Once a Week," September 27, 1862)

James McNeill Whistler|Chiswick Press|Dalziel Brothers

1862 · Wood engraving; proof · Drawings and Prints

In 1862 Whistler designed four wood engravings for the London periodical "Once a Week." Many of his Pre-Raphaelite friends were illustrating poems and short stories at this moment and the decade proved to be the start of a new flowering of British illustration. Founded in 1859, "Once a Week" supported the movement and was known as a "journal of the younger men." Whister's image responds to the ballad "Burckhardt von Keller" which tells of a count bewitched and then consumed by a magical serpent-like woman, leaving his bethrothed Clara to wonder what has befallen him. Related lines read: " Nor rode he again at even-tide, / To the Lady Clara his plighted bride. / Weep not, Clara, weeping is vain; / Tears will not bring him back again. / Long at the turret thy watch mayst keep, / Wilt nevermore see him climb the steep..." This is a proof of the wood engraving published September 27, 1862.

Artist

James McNeill Whistler|Chiswick Press|Dalziel Brothers

Date

1862

Medium

Wood engraving; proof

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1922