Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00011113About the Artwork
This drawing is one of 40 made by Arthur Rackham to illustrate William Shakespeare's comedy A Midsummer Night's Dream. It depicts the confrontation between Oberon and Titania, king and queen of the fairies, that takes place in the woods outside of Athens in act 2, scene 1. The artist painted a stormy sky looming over the magical couple to echo the story's mood. Rackham worked during a golden age of book illustration in England, around the turn of the 20th century, and the images he produced for literary works influenced future productions of Shakespeare's work.
Inscriptions
signed and dated, in pen and black ink, at lower right: Arthur Rackham 08
Provenance
?-1954: Mrs. Don Hunter, Albany, GA, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH 1954-: Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
Water Color. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 6-August 27, 1962). British Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art . The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 10-May 26, 2013). Fairy Tales and Fables: Illustration and Storytelling in Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 4-September 8, 2024).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Arthur Rackham (British, 1867–1939)
- Date
- 1908
- Medium
- pen and black ink and watercolor with scraping and minute touches of white gouache on artist's illustration board
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 38.6 x 27 cm (15 3/16 x 10 5/8 in.)
- Type
- Drawing
- Classification
- Drawing
- Department
- Drawings
- Credit line
- Gift of Mrs. Don Hunter
- Accession no.
- 1954.651
More by Arthur Rackham in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00011113
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