"The Cicilian Pirates”, proof wood-engraving by George du Maurier(1834–96), originally in the collection of the publisher George Smith (1824

The Cicilian Pirates. Artist: George du Maurier. Engraver: Swain. 4 x 6 1/4 inches. Proof wood-engraving by George du Maurier(1834–96), originally in the collection of the publisher George Smith (1824–1901) published in The Cornhill Magazine (April 1863): facing 530.

Scanned image, caption, and formatting by Simon Cooke. Images, poetry text and commentary below by Philip V. Allingham. You may use these image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image/s and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.it

Passage Illustrated

On either side dividing far the dark and sullen night,       11
With torches lit, and scented lamps, a trireme hove in sight —
Of Tyrian purple were the sails, and wrought with thread of gold,
In serpent curves the rich design flowed on from fold to fold;
With silver, and with ivory, the oars were all inlaid,       15
And struck the winding sea in time to music softly played.
In serried ranks, in chains of steel, the scowling rowers sate,
All captive men of divers lands, but all akin in hate;
For on the deck for banqueting the triple couches rare
Were spread with crimson cushions, and the rich and costly fare       20
Was piled on citron tables; fish and fowl from many lands
In salvers rough with beryl, wrought by cunning Grecian hands;
And in goblets graved by Mentor with legend of the vine,
By the torchlight shining red as blood the mighty Formian wine —
The booty from a Roman lord, that bore it o'er the sea       25
For a solace in his banishment in barren Galilee.
On yielding silk reclining lay the pirates at the feast —
Iberians, Greeks, and Asians, fiery West and languid East;
With wreaths of Persian roses crowned, and ivy the divine,
Their broidered festal garments damp with perfume, stained with wine.       30
Seemed the wild and haggard faces, 'neath the roses pure and white,
Like the faces in a dream that haunts a madman in the night.
Laughing girls from sunny Corinth, raven tresses, limbs of snow,
Mixed the wine, and filled the goblets, gliding softly to and fro.
In the highest place Serapio, though pirate, Roman still,       35
Lay unmindful of the wrangling, and the laughter loud and shrill,
With his scornful face averted; for an old and storied name,
Like the Centaur's robe, clung round him, in his exile and his shame. [Lines 11-38, p. 531]

Commentary: A Subject Fitter for a Baroque Painting

What a superfluity of detail and colour for a graphic artist! Although Du Maurier was able to convey some sense of the Baroque action and sharp contrasts in Smith's lyric, he could not organize the scene so that, for example, multiple Corinthian maidens would be pouring Serapio's wine. The illustrator emphasises the contrast between the serene pirate commander (still dressed very much as a young Roman, left) and the toiling rowers whipped on in their effort to drive the ship forward by an overseer with a raised whip (centre). Almost as an afterthought, Du Maurier has included Serapio's sybaritic guests feasting in the background, above the naked, muscular rowers at their benches. Little does the dissipated young Roman know that Pompey the Great's fleet is shortly to appear on the horizon, spelling doom for the sybarite.

This ninety-sixth illustration in the volume of single-page images on heavy paper, The Cornhill Gallery Containing One Hundred Engravings from Drawings on Wood, dates from just a few months before Smith, Elder published the massive folio volume in 1864.

Details

Bibliography

The Brothers Dalziel, W. J. Linton, and Joseph Swain, engravers. The Cornhill Gallery Containing One Hundred Engravings from Drawings on Wood. London: Smith, Elder, 1864.

Smith, W. Frank. "The Cicilian Pirates (Temp. Pompeii Magni." With a single illustration by George du Maurier. The Cornhill Magazine, VII (January through June 1863): 530-531.

Sutherland, John. "The Cornhill Magazine." The Stanford Companion to Victorian Fiction. Stanford, Cal.: Stanford U. P., 1989. 150.

Sutherland, John. "Du Maurier, George [Louis Palmella Bousson]." The Stanford Companion to Victorian Fiction. Stanford, Cal.: Stanford U. P., 1989. 202-203.

Created 4 December 2012

Last modified 13 January 2025