Happy birthday Beardsley!

Today marks the anniversary of the birth of Aubrey Beardsley, a favourite artist among staff here. Aubrey Beardsley was born in 1872 and died from tuberculosis in 1898 at the age of only twenty-five. During his short and brilliant career he became notorious for his illustrations in two ‘decadent’ periodicals of the period, The Yellow Book and The Savoy. His designs and illustrations for books such as Le Morte D’arthur, Lysistrata, Salome and Volpone added to his notoriety as the most daring artist of the 1890s.

We’ve covered Beardsley before, in:

• A look at his illustrations for Oscar Wilde’s Salome
• A look at his illustrations for The Rape of the Lock

Please do take a look and enjoy his absolutely stunning work!