Dimensions: support: 762 x 311 mm frame: 1010 x 553 x 61 mm
Copyright: CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Editor: So, here we have Walter Sickert's "Aubrey Beardsley," at the Tate. It feels like a fleeting impression, almost ghostly. What do you make of it? Curator: It's as if Beardsley is fading into the very fabric of the painting, isn't it? The muted palette, that sense of quiet contemplation… Sickert really captures a mood. Think about the fin-de-siècle era, its anxieties and fascinations. Editor: It's interesting you mention the era, that almost explains the solemn feeling of the portrait. Curator: I think so. It is less a portrait and more of an elegy. I love that, together, we brought him to life. Editor: Absolutely, I'll remember this painting vividly.
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http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/sickert-aubrey-beardsley-n04655
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It is thought that this painting shows the artist Aubrey Beardsley walking through Hampstead Church graveyard. He had been attending the unveiling of a memorial to the Romantic poet John Keats. At this time Beardsley was also living with tuberculosis, the disease which had killed Keats. Though elegantly dressed, Beardsley’s figure appears emaciated. The subdued background adds to the poignancy of the image; Beardsley died four years later. The painting was published in the journal Yellow Book when Beardsley was art editor. Gallery label, November 2021
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