Lone Dove, The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam 

Edmund Dulac created this illustration for the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, a collection of Persian poetry, sometime in the early 20th century. The image presents us with a vision of an ancient, decaying structure, bathed in the ethereal light of a star-filled night. It's a scene that evokes a sense of romantic melancholy, typical of the aesthetic sensibilities of the time. Dulac, along with other illustrators like Aubrey Beardsley, helped shape the visual culture of the British Aesthetic movement. They found inspiration in non-western cultures, but presented them through a western lens. The ruin could symbolize the transient nature of life and earthly power, a common theme in Khayyam's verses. The inclusion of a lone dove may also be symbolic. As historians, we can look at exhibition records, letters, and other primary source documents from the period to get a better understanding of the context in which this artwork was made and consumed. Art is always part of a wider set of social, cultural, and institutional relations.