Spare the life of poor Loge! 1910

Arthur Rackham made this drawing called 'Spare the life of poor Loge!' and its wild combination of pen, ink, and watercolor creates such an eerie atmosphere. I can almost see Rackham hunched over his desk, obsessively layering those fine lines to conjure up this strange scene. I wonder if he felt like a conjurer too, as he built up this image, line by line, from some vision in his head? Look at the way the figures emerge from the page with incredible detail. You can see every hair in their beards, every crease in their clothes. The way they interact with each other makes me think that Rackham was really interested in how to create a visual narrative. He’s showing us a moment of tension and anticipation, and you can almost hear the characters speaking. There’s a long tradition of artists drawing on narratives and literature as a source of ideas for art. And in turn, artists like Rackham inspire new generations of painters and illustrators, creating a constant exchange of visual ideas.