Aubrey Vincent Beardsley

Aubrey Beardsley’s illustrations were so popular that the years between 1892 and his untimely death at the age of 25 in 1898 are often called the “Beardsley years.” Beardsley’s designs, with their stylized, flat surfaces and elaborate foliate devices, helped to establish the vogue for Art Nouveau, a style that permeated the decorative arts and architecture as well as book illustration in the early part of the 20th century. This drawing appeared as the heading for the sixth chapter of the book Le Morte d’Arthur, the story of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table written ca. 1470 by Sir Thomas Malory. The book may be viewed in the case below.