The Rout, or Defeat, of Comus and his Band (John Milton's "Comus, a Masque")
This semi-circular image centers on a young man who raises his staff next to a kneeling woman with a doe's head, near dancing figures with human bodies and the heads of animals. The spandrels show an emaciated male at left, and bare-breated women at right, and the image is based on a fresco by Landseer that Prince Albert commissioned in 1843 for an octagonal pavilion in the garden of Buckingham Palace. Known as the Milton Summer House or Milton Villa, the building deteriorated and was demolished in 1928. There is a related oil sketch by Landseer for the design at Tate Britain.
Artwork Details
- Title: The Rout, or Defeat, of Comus and his Band (John Milton's "Comus, a Masque")
- Artist: After Sir Edwin Henry Landseer (British, London 1802–1873 London)
- Engraver: Thomas Landseer (British, London 1795–1880 London)
- Subject: Relates to John Milton (British, London 1608–1674 London)
- Date: 1868
- Medium: Mixed method engraving
- Dimensions: Plate: 21 15/16 × 37 1/16 in. (55.8 × 94.2 cm)
Sheet: 27 7/16 × 39 3/8 in. (69.7 × 100 cm) - Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1949
- Object Number: 49.40.179
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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Sir Edwin Henry Landseer
ca. 1817–20
Sir Edwin Henry Landseer
August 8, 1848
Sir Edwin Henry Landseer
J. Marshall
19th century
Sir Edwin Henry Landseer
1871
Multiple artists/makers
1878 (?)
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