THE SONG OF VIVIEN

An original design, illuminated in pen and ink, watercolour, bodycolour and gilt. Tennyson's verse is decorated with the profiles of Vivien and Merlin, a court scene, Vivien and Merlin beneath a tree, foliage motifs and a number of animals, including three dragon-like creatures. The artwork, measuring 23.5 x 33cm, is bright, crisp and unfaded, the paper with some faint dustiness. Framed using UV protection glass, the frame measures 37 x 46.5cm.

'The Song of Vivien' is an extract from 'Merlin and Vivien' a poem from Alfred Lord Tennyson's cycle of narrative poems 'Idylls of the King', published between 1859 and 1885, which retells stories of Arthurian legend, beautifully illuminated here by Sir Richard Rivington Holmes (1835-1911). Holmes's father was an assistant in the manuscript department of the British Museum, a role Holmes took on himself upon his father's death in 1854. His familiarity with and understanding of the visual conventions of illuminated manuscripts is plain to see in his attention to detail, use of composition and choice of motifs. One of Holmes' illuminated manuscript designs, also illustrating a Tennyson poem ('Godiva'), was woven into a fine silk 'ribbon' or banner which was shown at the International Exhibition of 1862. In 1868 he was appointed archaeologist to Lord Napier's Abyssinian expedition, during which he acquired material for the British Museum. In 1870 he became the royal librarian at Windsor Castle, where he was responsible for the acquisition and arrangement of books and works of art. He was nominated Sergeant-at-arms to Queen Victoria on 1898, made M.V.O in 1897, C.V.O in 1901 and K.C.V.O in 1905. As well as designing and creating illuminated manuscripts, Holmes designed stained glass windows and bookbindings and made pen drawings and landscape paintings. Similar pages, illuminated by Sir Richard Rivington illustrating Tennyson's Idylls of the King, were exhibited at Cardiff University Special Collections and Archives Exhibition 'Tennyson's Women', August 2016.