Milton's Comus

Sir Joseph Noël Paton|John Milton

1842–48 · Pen and ink, brush and brown wash, touches of white gouache (bodycolor), on brown paper · Drawings and Prints

Milton centered his masque "Comus" on a mythic figure that he called the son of Bacchus, and used to embody frenzied revelry. Here, he leads riotous followers through the woods at night–some sporting animal heads. Paton came to London from Scotland to attend the Royal Academy Schools in 1843 and soon was commissioned to illustrate two poems in Samuel Carter Hall's "Book of British Ballads" (1842-43). This drawing, with its free pen work and emphasis upon the nude, likely was produced a year or two later. By 1848, Paton adopted a tighter style influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites (as a friend of John Everett Millais since student days, Paton was invited to join brotherhood, declined formal membership, was sympathetic to their tenets).

Artist

Sir Joseph Noël Paton|John Milton

Date

1842–48

Medium

Pen and ink, brush and brown wash, touches of white gouache (bodycolor), on brown paper

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Bequest of William S. Lieberman, 2005