{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O132464"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O132464/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2007BM8369/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2007BM8369/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2007BM8369","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O132464/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O132464","accessionNumber":"E.684-1945","objectType":"Print","titles":[{"title":"Messalina returning from the bath","type":"alternative title"},{"title":"Messalina","type":"alternative title"}],"summaryDescription":"The publisher Leonard Smithers was a brilliant but shady character who operated on the fringes of the rare book trade, issuing small, clandestine editions of risqué books with the boast: 'I will publish the things the others are afraid to touch'. Smithers encouraged Beardsley's interest in French, Latin and Greek texts of this kind and commissioned drawings to illustrate Aristophanes's famously bawdy satirical play <i>Lysistrata</i> and the <i>Satires</i> of the late Roman poet Juvenal. Beardsley made a number of drawings which illustrate Juvenal's misogynistic <i>Sixth Satire, 'Against Woman'</i>.\r\n\r\nJuvenal cites the Empress Messalina as an exemplar of feminine lust and degeneracy, describing her nightly visits to the stews of ancient Rome where she posed as a prostitute in order to indulge her desires. In an earlier drawing of 1895 Beardsley had depicted her leaving the palace, disguised and attended only by a maid. In this second and more powerful treatment of the subject, he chose to illustrate the lines in which the poet describes Messalina returning to the palace, angry that her lusts remain unsatisfied.","physicalDescription":"Print of a woman dressed in a loose gown, her breasts exposed,  climbing a baroque staircase.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Beardsley, Aubrey Vincent","id":"A8134"},"association":{"text":"artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"paper (fiber product)","id":"AAT14109"},{"text":"printing ink","id":"AAT187371"}],"techniques":[{"text":"line-block","id":"x34849"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Line-block print on paper","categories":[{"text":"Prints","id":"THES48903"},{"text":"Illustration","id":"THES48938"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2007BM8369"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLE","id":"THES49657"},"free":"","case":"I","shelf":"50","box":"G"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"print","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"printed and published","id":"x35383"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"August 1896","earliest":"1896-08-01","latest":"1896-08-31"},"association":{"text":"drawn","id":"x30545"},"note":""},{"date":{"text":"1906","earliest":"1906-01-01","latest":"1906-12-31"},"association":{"text":"printed","id":"AAT53319"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"E.302-1972","id":"O685618"},"association":"Original"}],"creditLine":"Given by an anonymous donor","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"175","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"image","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"142","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"image","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"279","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"sheet","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"219","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"sheet","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"lettered: MESSALINA","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""}],"objectHistory":"Illustration for the <i>Sixth Satire</i> of Juvenal, published in <i>An Issue of Five Drawings illustrative of Juvenal and Lucian</i>, Leonard Smithers, London, 1906.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Print by Aubrey Beardsley (1872-1898), 'Messalina', alternatively titled 'Messalina returning from the bath', printed 1906.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Brian Reade, <i>Aubrey Beardsley</i>, London, 1967, Cat. no. 483 (the original drawing),\r\n\r\nMark Samuels Lasner, <i>A Selective Check-list of the published work of Aubrey Beardsley</i>, Boston USA, 1995, no.149,\r\n\r\nStephen Calloway, <i>Aubrey Beardsley</i>, London, 1998, pp.179-80."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<u>Victoria and Albert Museum, Department of Engraving, Illustration and Design and Department of Paintings, Accessions 1945</u>, London: HMSO, 1956."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"breasts","id":"x34494"},{"text":"slippers","id":"AAT46083"},{"text":"stairs","id":"AAT3228"}],"contentConcepts":[{"text":"lust","id":"x30712"}],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["E.684-1945"],"accessionNumberNum":"684","accessionNumberPrefix":"E","accessionYear":1945,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-16","recordCreationDate":"2007-02-28","availableToBook":false}}