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SAVOYV7_icon10_beardsley_tristan

The line-block reproduction of Bearsley’s pen-and-ink design is set within a frame in portrait orientation. The image consists of two figures standing on a stage in front of a white curtain, whose central separation extends from the top to the stage floor. In the top right corner, hand-lettered on the curtain, is the title in German: “TRISTAN UND ISOLDE” [caps] [trans: Tristan and Isolde]. The full-length, facing figures represent characters from Arthurian legend as celebrated in Wagner’s opera of the same title. Tristan, a male figure, stand on the left, just below the title. He is standing in profile facing Isolde on the right, raising a goblet in his right hand above his head. He has long curly black hair that extends part way down his back. His robes hang straight down and rest on the ground. There are black rocks on the ground between the figures. Isolde, the female figure at right facing Tristan, is wearing a similar, floor-length robe. She is turned slightly toward the curtain so that the left side of her face is visible over her left shoulder. Her hair is longer and straighter than Tristan’s, and decorated with beads and jewelry. Above Isolde’s head and in front of the curtain is an elaborately ornamented object, possibly a garland embroidered on the curtain itself. The garland extends from the right edge of the illustration and ends in the top right with a large flower, the face of which is pointing upwards. It has four petals at 90-degree angles from one another. In the bottom left corner of the illustration are the author’s initials: “A.B” [caps].