"The lord of Burleigh" before 1897

Curator: So, here we have a page showcasing "The Lord of Burleigh," a sketch from before 1897, attributed to the hand of Thackeray. It's a pencil drawing on paper. What strikes you immediately about this piece? Editor: It feels incredibly light and fleeting, almost dreamlike. The lines are so delicate. You can sense the artist's hand moving quickly across the paper, capturing a feeling more than a literal representation. Is that Tennyson connection a direct illustration of his poem of the same name, perchance? Curator: Exactly. Thackeray was prompted to this drawing via Tennyson. The poem narrates the story of a nobleman who marries a commoner, concealing his true identity. There is definitely a Romantic aesthetic to the piece. Editor: You know, knowing it’s Romantic lends it a certain melancholic charm. I see a couple there; is she realizing she's marrying "up," or is it more innocent than that? I like the ambiguity – that slightly hesitant body language between the two. But there are a bunch of small figures in the upper left, too. What’s their story? Curator: They're sketched quite lightly, but appear to be mischievous spirits, or perhaps the artist alluding to her initial innocence or lower status, soon to be subverted. Remember, the core of Romanticism as an art movement revolves around powerful emotional experiences – it values the interiority and subjectivity of human feeling. It would then also value those in other categories of social position. Editor: Ah, right. I love that you pointed that out. There’s definitely an emotional rawness to it, a lack of polish that strangely makes it more compelling. It almost invites you to imagine what happens next in the story, to fill in the gaps. Is that Romantic thing true of the work's visuality, too? Curator: Precisely. While visually simple, it holds socio-historical complexity of romance and social mobility—the type we love to interpret as scholars, yes, but one that can affect our most basic feeling responses, as well! Editor: I'm grateful you did interpret this. Thinking about it more I might try a more thorough sketch myself. Thanks.