{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O132918"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O132918/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AU2908/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AU2908/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AU2908","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O132918/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O132918","accessionNumber":"E.685-1945","objectType":"Print","titles":[{"title":"Bathyllus Posturing","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"Aubrey Beardsley's distinctive black and white drawings for Oscar Wilde's <i>Salomé</i>, published in 1894, brought him an extraordinary notoriety whilst still in his early twenties. His work for the periodical <i>The Yellow Book</i> confirmed his position as the most innovative illustrator of the day, but as a result of the hostile moralistic outcry that followed the arrest and trial of Oscar Wilde in early 1895, John Lane and other publishers panicked and dropped Beardsley. Thereafter, almost the only publisher who would use his drawings was Leonard Smithers. 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 already growing 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. \r\n\r\nChoosing in particular Juvenal's <i>Sixth Satire, 'Against Woman'</i>, Beardsley made several drawings including two representing Bathyllus, a minor character referred to by the author only in passing. Bathyllus was a dancer, famed for his female impersonations and much admired by decadent Roman audiences for his lewd and suggestive performances. Beardsley, who delighted in coded references to depravity, told Smithers 'I am doing a Bathyllus No 2 as I feel I cannot say all I want to about him in one picture'; in this, the more suggestive of the two illustrations, Bathyllus's pose and gestures are unequivocally obscene.","physicalDescription":"Line block print of a naked figure, lettered 'Bathyllus', with long curly dark hair, seen from behind.","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":["2006AU2908"],"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":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1896","earliest":"1896-01-01","latest":"1896-12-31"},"association":{"text":"drawn","id":"x30545"},"note":""},{"date":{"text":"1906","earliest":"1906-01-01","latest":"1906-12-31"},"association":{"text":"printed","id":"AAT53319"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given anonymously","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"111","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"image","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"92","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":"220","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"sheet","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'BATHYLLUS'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Lettered"}],"objectHistory":"Illustration for the Sixth Satire of Juvenal, published in <u>An Issue of Five Drawings Illustrative of Juvenal and Lucian</u>, London: Leonard Smithers,1906.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Print by Aubrey Beardsley (1872-1898), 'Bathyllus Posturing', printed 1906.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Reade, Brian.<u>Aubrey Beardsley </u>. London 1967, Cat. no. 470,"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Samuels Lasner, Mark. <u>A Selective Check-list of the published work of Aubrey Beardsley</u>. Boston USA, 1995, no.149,"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Calloway, Stephen. <u>Aubrey Beardsley</u>. London, 1998, pp.176-9."},{"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":"nudes","id":"AAT189568"},{"text":"dancers","id":"AAT25653"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["E.685-1945"],"accessionNumberNum":"685","accessionNumberPrefix":"E","accessionYear":1945,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-09","recordCreationDate":"2007-03-08","availableToBook":false}}