[“Angel that thou art!”] — illustration for G. W. M. Reynolds’s “The Mysteries of London” by G. Stiff

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“Angel that thou art!”

G. Stiff

c. 1843

Wood engraving

Source: The Hathi Trust version of G. W. M. Reynolds’s The Mysteries of London 1.345

The illustration, which has no caption, depicts a passage in Chapter 113 but appears in the previous one.

Click on image to enlarge it and see passage illustrated and commentary below,

Richard pressed his lips to those of that charming girl

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Passage illustrated

Think not of the past, Richard," said Isabella, tenderly.

"The past! Oh! how can I cease to ponder upon the past, when it has nearly bereaved me of all hope for the future?" exclaimed Markham, in an impassioned tone.

"Not all hope," murmured Isabella; "since hope still remains to me!" "Angel that thou art!" cried Richard, pressing the maiden's hand fondly. "How weak I am, since it is from thee that moral courage ever is imparted."

"You were speaking of my letter," said Isabella, with a smile. — Chapter 113, “The Lovers” 1.345

Commentary

This effective illustrations epitomizes the artist’s strengths and weaknesses: He usually has a gift for composition, and here the placement of Richard Markham and Isabel Alteroni under a bare tree with her exiled father’s mansion behind in the distance perfectly captures the present state of the lovers. Like the tree barren in winter, their hope of marriage is only possible in the future, and the girl’s palatial home also symbolizes the ambiguous nature of their futures. Is the noble, unjustly convicted ex-convict Markham always going to be kept far distant from the Alteroni family, or (as it turns out) will he miraculously go to Italy, become a conquering hero, earn a princedom, and marry his beloved?

Other strengths and weaknesses typical of Stiff appear here as well: the tree and the mansion are well drawn, as are the garments worn by the couple, but, as usual, Stiff has problems with the faces and anatomy: Richard’s leg looks very odd, and the faces are too briefly etched, one result of which is that almost all his women look very much alike. Furthermore, although the novelist describes all the young women in The Mysteries of London as extraordinarily beautiful, his illustrator never manages to make them look so. — George P. Landow

Bibliography

Reynolds, George W. M. The Mysteries of London. vol 1. London: George Vickers, 1846. Hathi Trust Digital Library. Web. 8 October 2016.

Last modified 8 October 2016