‘I Saw Three Ships’, by Bernard Sleigh

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I Saw Three Ships

Bernard Sleigh

Woodcut engraved by Sleigh

4½ x 2¾ inches

A Book of Pictured Carols, 25

This exquisite Pre-Raphaelite design by Bernard Sleigh is a perfect synthesis of Rossetti and Burne-Jones. The delicate detailing of the faces is matched by the ornamental treatment of the costumes. The purity of the ‘Ladye’, placed in the foreground, is denoted by the lilies embellishing her robe, and her halo is touchingly represented not as the traditional nimbus but as an encircling wreath of leaves, the symbol of perennial life. [Commentary continues below.]

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As usual in Pre-Raphaelite book illustration, the artist amplifies the characters’ impact by fitting them into an impossibly small space. Though related to the images appearing in the Moxon Tennyson, the narrow, upright shape links the design to the medium of stained glass, and closely resembles the windows designed by Morris, Burne-Jones and Rossetti. It also prefigures the Gothicising compositions of Eric Gill, who was active only thirty years after this design was produced.

Bibliography

A Book of Pictured Carols Designed by Members of the Birmingham Art School. London: George Allen, 1893.

Created 20 July 2020