The Return of Imray. Artist and engraver: William Strang. 1901. Steel plate etching. A Series of Thirty Illustrations by William Strang, Illustrating Subjects from the Writings of Rudyard Kipling (1901), plate 3. [Click on image to enlarge it.]
A dramatic and unsettling illustration in which the artist presents the moment when Imray, who has been murdered by his servant Bahadur Khan and concealed in the attic, crashes through the ceiling; Strickland, who now lives in Imray’s bungalow, holds a lamp to his face. Typically, Strang heightens the horror by contrasting Strickland’s casual inspection with the gruesome details of the dead body; the crepuscular lights adds to the Gothic effect, as does the compression of space, so that the viewer is included in the psychological drama.
Image scan, text and formatting 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.
Bibliography
Kipling, Rudyard. A Series of Thirty Etchings by William Strang, Illustrating Subjects from the Writings of Rudyard Kipling. London: Macmillan, 1901.
Created 30 September 2025