Glad to death's mystery, Swift to be hurl'd,/Anywhere, anywhere out of the world!; Illustration for the title page of 'The Poetical Works of Thomas Hood'; The Bridge of Sighs
- Object:
- Place of origin:
England, Great Britain (drawn)
- Date:
- Artist/Maker:
Gustave Doré, born 1832 - died 1883 (artist)
- Materials and Techniques:
Indian ink heightened with white
- Credit Line:
Bequeathed by Henry Herbert Harrod
- Museum number:
- Gallery location:
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Victorian painters and writers were to some degree obsessed with the image of the fallen woman. The antithesis of the virtuous ideal, the prostitute was deemed to have committed the 'greatest sin of all' and such women were outcasts from family and society. Victorian society saw the prostitute as a once-innocent victim, a pure creature seduced and degraded, who must welcome death as her only escape from an insupportable life of guilt and despair. There was pity - in art, if not in life - for these 'soiled doves'. The fate of the prostitute was usually shown to be poverty, disease, and death, a death chosen by the girl herself in preference to her unhappy life. Thomas Hood's poem The Bridge of Sighs (1844) became a classic stereotype of the harlot and her destiny. Dore's illustration to the poem shows the psychologically dramatic moment when the girl chooses suicide; minutes later she will jump from the bridge and drown in the river below.
Physical description
Drawing in Indian ink heightened with white illustrating Thomas Hood's poem 'The Bridge of Sighs' (1844) became a classic stereotype of the harlot and her destiny. Doré's illustration to the poem shows the psychologically dramatic moment when the girl chooses suicide; minutes later she will jump from the bridge and drown in the river below.
Initialled by the artist.
Place of Origin
England, Great Britain (drawn)
Date
1871 (drawn)
Artist/maker
Gustave Doré, born 1832 - died 1883 (artist)
Materials and Techniques
Indian ink heightened with white
Dimensions
Height: 55 cm framed, Width: 30 cm framed
Descriptive line
Drawing by Gustave Doré entitled "Glad to Death's mystery, swift to be hurl'd,/Anywhere, anywhere out of the World" for the title page of 'The Poetical Works of Thomas Hood' and the poem 'The Bridge of Sighs'. French School, Great Britain, 1871.
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Victoria and Albert Museum Charles Dickens: An exhibition to celebrate the centenary of his death London: HMSO, 1970. P.74. Catalogue of the exhibition held at the Victoria and Albert Museum, June-September 1970.
The full text of the entry is as follows:
' (Paul) Gustave Louis Christophe Doré (1832-83)
Glad to death’s mystery, Swift to be hurl’d/Anywhere, anywhere out of the world!
Drawing for the illustration to The Bridge of Sighs by Thomas Hood
Signed GD
Indian ink heightened with white
E.358-1948
‘The Bridge of Sighs’ and ‘A Threatening Letter to Thomas Hood, from an Ancient Gentleman by Favour of Charles Dickens’ were published in Hood’s Magazine, May 1844. Both Hood’s poem and Dickens's ironic letter in which he assumes the character of an old Tory who grumbles about Young England and finds only one thing to be praised, a ‘Judge who knows how to do his duty’, were provoked by the widely discussed case of Mary Furley. She had been sentenced to death the preceding April for attempting suicide and for drowning one of her illegitimate sons, whom she had clutched to her as she threw herself into the Regent’s Canal in a bid to escape returning to the work-house after her savings had been stolen. For artistic reasons Hood did not mention the child and shifted the scene to Waterloo Bridge, a notorious favourite for suicides. Dickens is said to have been overcome with emotion when he heard Hood’s poem sung.’ '
Exhibition History
Charles Dickens (Victoria and Albert Museum 10/06/1970-20/09/1970)
Materials
Paper; Indian ink; White
Techniques
Drawing; Illustration
Subjects depicted
Rivers; Bridges (built works); Suicide; Deaths
Categories
Illustration; Drawings
Collection code
PDP
