Skip to main content
Advanced Search
This image is for study only, and may not accurately represent the object’s true color or scale…
The Fatal Bellman
This image is for study only, and may not accurately represent the object’s true color or scale…
This image is for study only, and may not accurately represent the object’s true color or scale. It should not be shared or reproduced without permission by the copyright holder.

The Fatal Bellman

Primary (1809–1896)
NationalityEnglish, Europe
Date1827
MediumEngraving on chine appliqué
DimensionsSheet: 7 13/16 × 5 3/4 in. (19.9 × 14.6 cm)
Additional Dimension: 2 5/8 × 1 13/16 in. (6.7 × 4.6 cm)
Credit LineBlanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin, Purchase through the generosity of the Print and Drawing Society, 1999.80
Keywords
Collection AreaPrints and Drawings
Object number1999.80
On View
Not on view
Label Text
The inscription at the top of this print, its traditional title, and the owl come from Lady Macbeth’s soliloquy while her husband is murdering Duncan. The image, however, bears more relation to the immediately preceding passage in which Macbeth himself feverishly imagines the action he is about to undertake. While its scale and articulation in pure burin relate this print to the so-called Little Masters of the German Renaissance, its exploration of imprecise and newly metaphoric relation between text and image is thoroughly Romantic.