‘A puir feckless thing’, by Mary Ellen Edwards, for Trollope’s ‘The Claverings’

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‘A puir feckless thing’

Mary Ellen Edwards

1866

Wood engraving by Horace Harral

6¼ x 4 inches

Illustration for Anthony Trollope’sThe Clavverings. The Cornhill Magazine, February 1866, facing p.129.

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This striking design is the opening illustration to Trollope’s sour and problematic novel and clearly establishes the central situation in which Julia Brabazon marries Lord Ongar purely for money and rank. Edwards dramatizes the huge difference between them: one a healthy, ‘lusty … lass’ and the other an old man, ‘puir’ and tottering’, who is nevertheless a well-known roué. The focus is the contrast between their glances; Julia looks coldly away while he, in anticipation of their wedding night, subjects her to lecherous inspection. The contrast is underpinned by a formal opposition between their costumes, white and black, lyrical arabesques and geometrical narrowness. Far from a celebratory wedding, the illustration exemplifies the artist’s (previously) unappreciated capacity to engage in social satire.

Bibliography

The Cornhill Magazine. London: Smith, Elder, 1866.

Last modified 13 September 2014