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

Overview

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Provenance

Exhibition History

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

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From the same time and place

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)
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Publisher Related publisher John Lane, The Bodley Head
ca. 1930

Stroh Violin, George Evans & Co. English, Mahogany and aluminum, British — Stroh Violin
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The Parade, Si Lewen American, Manufactured charcoal, pencil, crayon, ink, scratching, and hand applied gesso on paperboard — The Parade
Si Lewen
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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"
Henry Weston Keen
Author Related author John Webster
Publisher Related publisher John Lane, The Bodley Head
ca. 1930

Chalumeau in C, J.C. Denner British, Wood, brass, British — Chalumeau in C
Original by J.C. Denner
This copy possibly by Francis W. Galpin
copy late 19th century

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