This illustrates a poem in which the hero, Harold, is drifting to his death. Nevertheless, his exoticised appearance and boat, his longing for the ‘unconquered sea’ and his gaze to the horizon (which we share, looking over his shoulder) all speak of a romanticisation of sea travel. The writer of the poem, Menella Smedley, was a cousin of Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll).
Dalziel after Francis S Walker, illustration for Menella Bute Smedley, ‘Hero Harold’, in the magazine Good Words (1868). Dalziel Archive Vol. XXIV (1868), British Museum reg. no. 1913,0415.185, print no. 274. By Permission of the Trustees of The British Museum. All Rights Reserved © Sylph Editions, 2016