Design for the Frontispiece to John Davidson’s Plays
- Artist: Aubrey Beardsley
- Date: 1894
- Medium: Ink and graphite on paper
- Dimensions: support: 286 × 187 mm
- Museum: Tate Britain
- Collection record: Tate Britain website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is the “Design for the Frontispiece to John Davidson’s Plays” by Aubrey Beardsley. Created in 1894, the drawing is a clever mash‑up of caricatures rather than a literal scene from Davidson’s drama. In the centre sits Sir Augustus Harris, the powerful manager of Covent Garden, Drury Lane and Her Majesty’s Theatres, rendered in a cloak that hints at theatrical secrecy.
Flanking him, Beardsley has turned Oscar Wilde into a voluptuous Bacchus, his curves exaggerated with playful irony. Beside the wine‑god’s right hand, the artist’s sister Mabel appears in a graceful nude, a nod to his personal ties to the stage. The left side features a satyr‑like faun, Henry Harland, the literary editor of *The Yellow Book*, while the masked figure of poet Richard Le Gallienne watches from the shadows. A slender ballerina, Adeline Genee, completes the assembly, her tutu adding a hint of choreography to the composition.
Beardsley’s line work—delicate, swirling, and highly detailed—captures the vibrancy of late‑Victorian artistic circles. The piece was originally drafted for the frontispiece of Davidson’s collection of plays, printed by Elkin Mathews and John Lane. It remains a testament to Beardsley’s wit and his keen observation of the theatrical and literary elites of his time.
See it in person
Design for the Frontispiece to John Davidson’s Plays is in the collection of Tate Britain on Millbank, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
