08 Jun The Temple Desolate
Charlotte Becker (English, UCSB)
Tina Bruno (History of Art & Architecture, UCSB)
Friday, June 8 / 12:00
South Hall 2510, Early Modern Center
The History of Books & Material Texts RFG and the 19th Century Reading Group invite you to attend a research share by Tina Bruno and Charlotte Becker on their collaborative research on a late-19th century illuminated manuscript entitled The Temple Desolate. In 1896, the now-obscure artist Henry John Stock teamed up with a mysterious, as-yet unidentified poet/calligrapher called “D.D.” to create The Temple Desolate, most likely inspired by the Arts & Crafts vogue for illuminated manuscripts, catalyzed by the collaborations of William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones. The Temple Desolate reflects the influence of diverse 19th-century artists such as William Blake and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and responds to ideas put forth in the literary works of Alfred, Lord Tennyson and even Oscar Wilde. Yet The Temple Desolate is a unique artifact, engaging the fin de siecle crisis of faith in an unusual and elaborate way.
Sponsored by the IHC’s History of Books & Materials RFG.