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Not currently on display at the V&A

Master Leo

Drawing
1893 (made)
Artist/Maker
Aubrey Beardsley (artist)
Place of origin
London (made)

A drawing in black ink on white paper depicting a caricature depicting the child actor Master Leo Byrne in character as Henry II's illegitimate son Geoffrey from Tennyson's play 'Becket.' The character is depicted in profile holding a ball.


Object details

Categories
Drawings
Theatre
Caricatures & Cartoons
Illustration
Object type
Drawing
TitleMaster Leo (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Pen and Indian ink, and graphite on paper
Paper
Ink
Graphite
Drawing
Brief description
Drawing by Aubrey Beardsley, 'Master Leo', one of a series of three caricatures of actors in character in Tennyson's 'Becket', produced by Sir Henry Irving at the Lyceum Theatre, London, 6 February 1893, pen and Indian ink and graphite on paper, London, 1893
Physical description
A drawing in black ink on white paper depicting a caricature depicting the child actor Master Leo Byrne in character as Henry II's illegitimate son Geoffrey from Tennyson's play 'Becket.' The character is depicted in profile holding a ball.
Dimensions
  • Height: 126mm
  • Width: 107mm
Marks and inscriptions
  • 'AB' (Signed in ink)
  • (Inscribed in graphite with notes)
  • 'MASTER LEO' (Inscribed in ink)
Credit line
Bequeathed by H. H. Harrod
Object history
Bequeathed by H. H. Harrod, 1948
Subjects depicted
Child
Byrne, Leo
Literary referenceBecket by Alfred Lord Tennyson
Associated object
E.471-1899 (Reproduction)
Bibliographic references
  • Calloway, Stephen. Aubrey Beardsley. London: V & A Publications, 1998. 224pp, illus. ISBN: 1851772197.
  • Victoria and Albert Museum, Department of Engraving, Illustration and Design, and Department of Paintings, Accessions: 1948, Volume II, Henry Herbert Harrod Bequest, London: His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1957
  • Linda Gertner Zatlin, Aubrey Beardsley : a catalogue raisonne. New Haven : Yale University Press, [2016] 2 volumes (xxxi, [1], 519, [1] pages; xi, [1], 547, [1] pages) : illustrations (some color) ; 31 cm. ISBN: 9780300111279 The entry is as follows: 281 Master Leo Early February 1893 Victoria and Albert Museum, London (E.34-1948) Pen and Indian ink over pencil on white wove paper; 4 15/6 x 4 3/16 inches (126 x 107 mm); signed. INSCRIPTIONS: Recto in ink inscribed by artist at far left side: [monogram in cursive]: A B / [at bottom right]: MASTER / LEO. / [in pencil in another hand]: 1 ½ have by / Monday / at [6? illegible]; Verso in pencil: 8496 / P.M.G. / E.34-1948 PROVENANCE: Herbert von Garvens; …; H. H. Harrod; bequeathed to Victoria and Albert Museum in 1948. EXHIBITION: London 1966-8 (151) LITERATURE: Vallance 1897 (p.203), 1909 (no.55.iii.2); Gallatin 1945 (no. 254); Reade 1967 (p.314 n.43); Samuels Lasner 1995 (no.9) REPRODUCED: Pall Mall Budget 9 February 1893 (p. 188); Early Work 1899 (no.144); Reade 1967 (plate 42). This drawing is one of eight that Beardsley made for the Pall Mall Budget to illustrate a review of Tennyson’s Beckett (1879), which opened at the Lyceum Theatre, London, on 6 February 1893. Master Leo Byrne played Godfrey, the son of Henry II and his beloved Fair Rosamund. The drawing refers to Act II, Scene i, when Henry gives Godfrey a ball, saying ‘Here is a ball, my boy, thy world, to turn anyway and play with as thy wilt’. Although Godfrey has promised Henry ‘not to turn thy world upside down’, he betrays his mother to Eleanor of Aquitaine, Henry’s wife. For further comment on Beardsley’s drawings for the Pall Mall Budget, see no. 274 above.
Collection
Prints, Drawings & Paintings Collection
Accession number
E.34-1948

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Record createdJune 30, 2009
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O601842/master-leo-drawing-aubrey-beardsley/
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