Milton's Comus

Subject Relates to John Milton British

1842–48

Not on view

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).

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Title: Milton's Comus
Artist: Sir Joseph Noël Paton (British, Dunfermline, Scotland 1821–1901 Edinburgh)
Subject: Relates to John Milton (British, London 1608–1674 London)
Date: 1842–48
Medium: Pen and ink, brush and brown wash, touches of white gouache (bodycolor), on brown paper
Dimensions: sheet: 9 x 14 1/2 in. (22.9 x 36.8 cm)
Classification: Drawings
Credit Line: Bequest of William S. Lieberman, 2005
Object Number: 2007.49.502
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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