A Confession
A laughing cavalier here whispers his confession into the ear of an elderly priest, causing the latter's hair to rise in shocked surprise. May was a popular cartoonist who worked at the end of the nineteenth century, using a spare linear style that moved the genre away from detailed narrative images typical in the Victorian era towards a simplicity more typical in the later decades. Our imagination is called upon to fill what the cavalier might be saying. May must have valued this image because he dedicated to his beloved wife Lil.
Artwork Details
- Title: A Confession
- Artist: Phil May (British, New Wortley, Leeds 1864–1903 London)
- Dedicatee: Lilian Emerson May (British, died 1909)
- Date: 1901
- Medium: Graphite on artist's board
- Dimensions: Sheet: 11 15/16 × 9 1/2 in. (30.4 × 24.2 cm)
- Classification: Drawings
- Credit Line: Bequest of James David Draper, from the Robert Isaacson Collection, 2019
- Object Number: 2021.15.12
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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Phil May (British, New Wortley, Leeds 1864–1903 London)
ca. 1895
Phil May (British, New Wortley, Leeds 1864–1903 London)
late 19th century
Phil May (British, New Wortley, Leeds 1864–1903 London)
ca. 1882
Phil May (British, New Wortley, Leeds 1864–1903 London)
late 19th–early 20th century
Phil May (British, New Wortley, Leeds 1864–1903 London)
1895
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