It is worth comparing this with William Blake’s illustration ‘Plague’ (in his illuminated book Europe), which is a similarly bold and claustrophobic image of an enclosed outdoor scene. In both illustrations, there is a passing watchman and a door with the same cross and message. Blake’s image features three collapsing humans outside the house, rather than the lone dog portrayed here.
Dalziel after Alfred Walter Bayes, ‘Plague in London’, illustration for H W Dulcken, A Picture History of England (London: Routledge, 1866). Dalziel Archive Vol. XX (1865), British Museum reg. no. 1913,0415.181, print no. 882.
By Permission of the Trustees of The British Museum. All Rights Reserved © Sylph Editions, 2016.