Praying Angels and Poppies (Border Design for Thomas Malory, "Le Morte d'Arthur," J. M. Dent 1893–94, Part III, book vii, chapter i, p. 219) 1893

Aubrey Beardsley made this pen and ink drawing, "Praying Angels and Poppies," in the 1890s as a border design for a new edition of Thomas Malory's "Le Morte d'Arthur." Beardsley was a leading figure in the Aesthetic movement, which emphasized art for art's sake. He was also part of the fin-de-siècle culture, a period characterized by decadence and a fascination with the morbid. Looking closely, one sees how these themes are interwoven here. The ethereal angels, with their stylized wings, hold a delicate pose of prayer, while the poppies, symbols of sleep and oblivion, surround them. There is a tension here between the spiritual and the sensual, the sacred and the profane. Beardsley's androgynous figures challenged Victorian norms of gender and sexuality. One could argue that the artist was invested in imagining alternative representations of the body, and that through his drawings Beardsley created a space for questioning societal expectations. Ultimately, Beardsley's drawing invites us to contemplate the complex relationship between beauty and mortality, faith and desire.