|
William Marshall (fl. 1617–1649) was a seventeenth-century British engraver and illustrator, best known for his print depicting "Charles the Martyr", a symbolic portrayal of King Charles I of England as a Christian martyr. ==Early career== Nothing is known of Marshall's life beyond references to his career as an engraver. Marshall's earliest known work is the frontispiece to the book ''A Solemne Joviall Disposition Briefly Shadowing the Law of Drinking'', which was published in 1617. In the 1630s he produced a number of portrait engravings and book frontispieces, depicting Puritan divines, poets, and figures associated with the High Church establishment of the day, such as William Laud.〔(National Portrait Gallery, William Marshall prints )〕 His most ambitious work was the highly elaborate frontispiece to George Wither's 1635 ''Collection of Emblemes, Ancient and Moderne'', an unusually complex example of the Emblem book. Wither left the design to Marshall, having given general instructions, but expressed himself exasperated with the result, on the grounds that its symbolism was thoroughly incoherent.〔Wither, George, ''A Collection of Emblemes'', Introduction by Rosemary Freeman; Bibliographical notes by Charles S. Hensley, Columbia: published for the Newberry Library by the University of South Carolina Press, 1975.〕 As he wrote, Instead thereof, the Workman brought to light, What, here, you see; therein, mistaking quite The true Design: And, so (with pains, and cost) The first intended FRONTISPIECE, is lost.〔(Engraved and Etched English Title-Pages )〕 Wither's lengthy poem on the engraving claims that its apparently inconsistent symbolism revealed, unintentionally, a deeper truth. The lower part of the frontispiece depicts people wandering in confusion in a cave, apparently having emerged from a womb-like pool in which babies are shown swimming. They exit the cave to draw lots given to them by the goddess of Fortune, symbolic of their allotted place in life. They then climb up a mountain, which divides into two peaks, symbolic of the right and the wrong paths in life. The path to the peak on the right appears more attractive at first, but then becomes rocky and finally leads only to death; the path on the left is at first harder, but eventually becomes pleasant and leads to paradise. A Christian church is depicted on the left and a Pagan temple on the right. Marshall also created forty-one of the seventy-nine plates in Francis Quarles's ''Emblems of the life of man''. In 1640 he created the image of William Shakespeare for John Benson's (notoriously inaccurate) edition of the poet's sonnets. This was an adapted and reversed version of the original Martin Droeshout print. Five years later, he created the image of John Milton surrounded by four muses for Milton's 1645 Poems. The muses are Melpomene (tragedy), Erato, (lyric poetry), Urania, (astronomy), and Clio (history). Like Wither, Milton was unimpressed by Marshall's work, considering the portrait to be deeply unflattering. He had Marshall engrave satirical verses written in Greek underneath the image. It is assumed that this was a practical joke on Marshall, who is unlikely to have known that he was engaving insults directed at himself.〔Skerpan, Elizabeth Penley, Authorship and Authority: John Milton, William Marshall, and the Two Frontispieces of Poems 1645, ''Milton Quarterly'' - Volume 33, Number 4, December 1999, pp. 105-114〕 The verses read in translation, Looking at the form of the original, you could say, perhaps, that this likeness had been drawn by a rank beginner; but, my friends, since you do not recognize what is pictured here, have a chuckle at a caricature by a useless artist.〔(Milton, In Effigiei Ejus Sculptorem )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「William Marshall (illustrator)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|