Walter Crane (1845–1915)
The Triumph of Music
1874
Pen and ink over graphite
Walter Crane’s drawing stages the conflict of loyalties between art and music among a circle of cultured Victorian artists and architects known as the “Picts,” who met at each other’s houses to make sketches. Most, including the maker of the drawing, Walter Crane, were influenced by the Aesthetic Movement.
To the right, a classical personification of Art holds up a watch, suggesting that the men should be at work in their studio. Oddly attired partly in Greek chitons, partly in modern jackets, the group respond to the competing blandishments of the sister arts. Crane’s friend the architect E.J. Tarver gestures toward Art’s neglected palette and maulsticks, while Crane himself looks on, bemused or amused. At the other extreme, Music lures the group to an upright piano, and away from their vocation. She conducts with a rolled-up piece of paper, a songbird chirping from her headdress, and musical notation forming the decoration of her attire. Among those drawn in her direction is Aston Webb, the architect who later designed the facades of the Victoria and Albert Museum and Buckingham Palace in London.
YALE CENTER FOR BRITISH ART, GIFT OF DONALD C. GALLUP, 1934
B1997.7.395