Olympia and Bianca Enter, Illustration by J. R. Clayton

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Olympia and Bianca Enter

J. R. Clayton

1857

Wood engraving on paper

3 15/16 x 3 7/16 inches (10 x 8.8 cm)

Illustration for "Juan" by Barry Cornwall (real name, Bryan Waller Proctor (17878-1874))

Private Collection

Scanned image and caption material by Dennis T. Lanigan; commentary (below) and formatting by Jacqueline Banerjee. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]

You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.

OLYMPIA.
Did I believe in fables, I should think
Some evil hung about me.

BIANCA.
I heard nothing.

OLYMPIA.

Nor I; and yet when daemons walk about,
Their steps 'tis said are noiseless. I could now
Think half my nursery stories true, and spurn
My better reason from me. [Cornwall 45-46]

In the dramatic scene illustrated here, two young women, Olympia and her maid Bianca, have just entered the gardens of the Spanish castle where the furiously jealous Juan, bent on murder, is waiting for Olympia. Hearing voices, he hides (a hint of his shadow may be seen towards the left). But the women seem to sense the threat. When Olympia falls asleep, and Bianca leaves, the tragic denouement takes place, with the murder of Olympia followed by Juan's suicide as, too late, he realises her innocence. It is a powerful and passionate scene, and Clayton has brilliantly caught the trepidation of the two women in the dark garden.

Link to related material

The Murder of Olympia

Bibliography

Cornwall, Barry (pseud.). Dramatic scenes: with other poems. London: Chapman and Hall, 1857.

Sambrook, James. "Procter, Bryan Waller (1787–1874), poet and lawyer." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Online ed. Web. 12 January 2022.

Last modified 1 November 2009