The Last Sleep, c.1860-62. Etching on steel in black ink on paper, 17/8 x 41/8 inches (4.8 x 2.9 cm) – image size. Private collection. [Complete plate]. Click on image to enlarge it.
In this etching Smetham shows a young woman lying in death on a bed mourned by her lover stretched out behind her. The lines of poetry beneath the image are taken from the 1804 poem by James Montgomery entitled “The Grave.” John Ruskin wrote to Smetham: "I think the last [The Last Sleep] very beautiful indeed, and is quite a lesson in etching to me now, which I very much wanted" (Smetham and Davies 21). This is one of the most Pre-Raphaelite of Smetham’s etchings.
Bibliography
Smetham, Sarah and William Davies, Eds. Letters of James Smetham, Macmillan and Co., 1891.
Last modified 23 March 2022