Aubrey Vincent Beardsley

Beardsley completed this illustration for Wagner’s opera Das Rheingold after the German composer’s opera was first performed in London in the summer season of 1892. Wagner, who was considered a master of Symbolism, an art movement that emphasized fantasy, association, and the supernatural, impressed Beardsley. This illustration appeared in the periodical Savoy, for which Beardsley was the art editor.

The drawing illustrates two of the main characters – Wotan, king of the gods, and Loge, the god of fire – who have met in the underground world of the dwarves, where they will attempt to recover gold stolen by the dwarf Alberich. In the center, Beardsley depicts Loge recoiling in feigned fear from a dragon figure at his feet. Alberich has turned himself into such a monster hoping to frighten off the two interlopers. Beardsley’s depiction of Loge’s drapery in stylized flames is a tour de force of the Art Nouveau style.