Mr Beauclere
Christiana Hammond
Photomechanical reproduction of pen and ink drawing.
4½ x 3½ inches
Maria Edgeworth.Helen, Facing p. 132.
Hammond animates domestic dramas by focusing on encounters. This usually involves representing key moments in conversations, or, as in this illustration, depicting the moment when a character arrives through an opening door. Interactions are heightened by representing different types of gaze and the overall effect is dynamic, making the small events of upper-middle-class life seem important. This is also Edgeworth’s technique, and the artistic correspondence between the author’s and illustrator’s strategies is pronounced.
Click on image to enlarge it.
Scanned image and text by Simon Cooke.