His father and mother were both in the drawing room, but neither of his brothers was now at home. Angel entered, and closed the door quietly behind him." by D. A. Wehrschmidt. Plate 16 in the London Graphic (24 October 1891), half-page, horizontal: 19.2 cm high by 22.5 cm wide (7 ¾ inches high by 9 inches wide); p. 481; incident illustrated p. 482, middle of column 3 (half-way through Ch. XXXVIII). [Click on image to enlarge it.]
Passage Illustrated: Angel Shocks His Parents
In going hither and thither he observed in the outskirts of a small town a red-and-blue placard setting forth the great advantages of the Empire of Brazil as a field for the emigrating agriculturist. Land was offered there on exceptionally advantageous terms. Brazil somewhat attracted him as a new idea. Tess could eventually join him there, and perhaps in that country of contrasting scenes and notions and habits the conventions would not be so operative which made life with her seem impracticable to him here. In brief he was strongly inclined to try Brazil, especially as the season for going thither was just at hand.
With this view he was returning to Emminster to disclose his plan to his parents, and to make the best explanation he could make of arriving without Tess, short of revealing what had actually separated them. As he reached the door the new moon shone upon his face, just as the old one had done in the small hours of that morning when he had carried his wife in his arms across the river to the graveyard of the monks; but his face was thinner now.
Clare had given his parents no warning of his visit, and his arrival stirred the atmosphere of the Vicarage as the dive of the kingfisher stirs a quiet pool. His father and mother were both in the drawing-room, but neither of his brothers was now at home. Angel entered, and closed the door quietly behind him.
“But — where’s your wife, dear Angel?” cried his mother. “How you surprise us!”
“She is at her mother’s — temporarily. I have come home rather in a hurry because I’ve decided to go to Brazil.” [Book Fourth, "The Consequence," Chapter XXXVIII, p. 482, middle of column 3 in the sixteenth weekly instalment; Chapter XXXIX, Phase the Fifth, "The Woman Pays," in 1897 volume edition, 338]
Commentary: Disturbing Plans Engender a Gloomy Atmosphere
From Wehrschmidt's natural and outdoor settings we now move indoors from man-made backdrops for his fifth and sixth plates. In this plate the sixteenth instalment, Clare must "make the best explanation he could make of arriving without Tess short of revealing what had actually separated them" (XXXIX: 482). Opposite the Graphic's idyllic scenes from Waterlow Park and the more prosaic Students at Work Under the Direction of a Professor. Free-Practice — Sounding His Lungs in a picture commemorating Camden Town's Royal Veterinary College (which plays off nicely against Angel's desire to learn every aspect of agricultural economy on the job), Chapter XXXVII continues from the marital problems of the previous Saturday's instalment. The reader worries that Tess and Angel will have to part after the young husband has been so troubled by Tess's confession in the October 10th and 17th instalments. We are now three weeks after that wretched night. With difficulty Angel reveals his scheme for emigrating to Brazil while he rigorously avoids revealing the underlying cause of his separation from Tess.
Angel arrives without warning, so that in the plate the Reverend Mr. Clare rises suddenly from the table, as if surprised, as his wife looks up from her work. The background details are scant, so that the artist throws the eye well forward to the figures in the foreground, from the wraith-like Angel as he enters the room to the table on which lie the sewing-box, a quill, ink-stand, and open book, suggesting that the minister is writing his weekly sermon. All of these details Wehrschmidt has invented. Again, the viewer's vantage point is a theatrical one: the serial reader of the sixteenth weekly number is beyond Angel's parents, on the far side of the vicarage's drawing room. This stance implies no identification with any of the three characters; rather, it suggests that the viewer has been in the room rather than accompanying Angel from Emminster, as in the text. Despite the caption, Angel has not closed the door. Since this assessment of the plate is still proleptic, the viewer is in suspense as to how Angel will plausibly account to his judgmental parents for his wife's absence.
Note: The next two illustrations are by different illustrators. For the full sequence, please consult the complete list of illustrations.
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham. Formatting by George P. Landow. [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
Allingham, Philip V. "The Original Illustrations for Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles Drawn by Daniel A. Wehrschmidt, Ernest Borough-Johnson, and Joseph Sydall for the Graphic (1891)." The Thomas Hardy Year Book, No. 24 (1997): 3-50.
Feltes, Norman N. "Lateral Advance: Tess and the Necessities of Magazine Publication." Modes of Production of Victorian Novels. Chicago: U. Chicago Press, 1986, pp. 57-75.
Hardy, Thomas. Tess of the D'Urbervilles in the Graphic, 1891, 4 July-26 December, pp. 11-761.
Hardy, Thomas. Tess of the D'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman. Vol. I. The Wessex Novels. London: Osgood, McIlvaine, 1897.
Jackson, Arlene M. Illustration and the Novels of Thomas Hardy. Totowa, NJ: Rowman and Littlefield, 1981.
Vann, J. Don. "Tess of the D'Urbervilles in the Graphic, 4 July 26 — December 1891." Victorian Novels in Serial. New York: MLA, 1985, pp. 88-89.
Created 2 February 2001
Last updated 9 May 2024