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Spider, Web, Snake and Flowers (for "The Duchess of Malfi and The White Devil")

Author Related author John Webster British
Publisher Related publisher John Lane, The Bodley Head British
ca. 1930
Not on view
Keen was a designer of book illustrations in the Symbolist tradition. In this large drawing, a snake with intricate scales winds luxuriantly around fantastic blooms, turning to face a spider at the center of the web. This macabre but elegant image was engraved and printed as the endpaper for an edition of dramatist John Webster’s tragedy The White Devil and the Duchess of Malfi, published by the Bodley Head firm in London in 1930.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Spider, Web, Snake and Flowers (for "The Duchess of Malfi and The White Devil")
  • Artist: Henry Weston Keen (British, 1899–1935 Walberswick, Suffolk)
  • Author: Related author John Webster (British, ca. 1580–ca. 1634)
  • Publisher: Related publisher John Lane, The Bodley Head (British, 1854–1925)
  • Date: ca. 1930
  • Medium: Pen and black ink
  • Dimensions: Image: 14 1/8 × 18 1/2 in. (35.9 × 47 cm)
    Sheet: 15 1/2 × 22 1/2 in. (39.3 × 57.2 cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1967
  • Object Number: 67.803.13
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

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Odalisque, Henry Weston Keen British, Lithograph
Odalisque
Henry Weston Keen
1925–30
Unused Tailpiece Design for "The Duchess of Malfi", Henry Weston Keen British, Pen and black ink
Unused Tailpiece Design for "The Duchess of Malfi"
Multiple artists/makers
ca. 1930
Floral Tailpiece Designs for "The Duchess of Malfi" and "The White Devil", Henry Weston Keen British, Pen and black ink
Floral Tailpiece Designs for "The Duchess of Malfi" and "The White Devil"
Multiple artists/makers
ca. 1930
Skull Crowned with Snakes and Flowers (for "The Duchess of Malfi"), Henry Weston Keen British, Pen and black ink, brush and wash
Skull Crowned with Snakes and Flowers (for "The Duchess of Malfi")
Multiple artists/makers
ca. 1930
The Ghost of Isabella (for "The White Devil," Act III, scene iii), Henry Weston Keen British, Pen and black ink and graphite
The Ghost of Isabella (for "The White Devil," Act III, scene iii)
Multiple artists/makers
ca. 1930

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