Pictorial frontispiece

Claude Shepperson

Photomechanical reproduction of a lithograph

Frontispiece, Eliot, Middlemarch.

This powerful design shows Dorothea discovering her husband Casaubon, dead. Typically, Shepperson shows the event in a dramatic but unconventional way, with Dorothea and Casaubon viewed from behind as she places her hand on his shoulder; her face is not seen and the emphasis is on the suspended moment of discovery, so amplifying the psychological effect. [Click on the image to enlarge it, and mouse over the text for links.]

Middlemarch

William Ladd Taylor's depiction of the same scene

Casaubon, the Scholar-Mythologist

Scanned image and text by Simon Cooke.

You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.