Poet's corner, Westminster Abbey [graphic] : changing to The Shades of Shakspeare, Scott & Byron [sic].

Poet's corner, Westminster Abbey [graphic] : changing to The Shades of Shakspeare, Scott & Byron [sic].

London : William Spooner, 377 Strand, [1838 or 1839]

1 print : hand-colored lithograph ; image: 18 x 13 cm; secondary support: 28.7 x 23 cm

Spooner's Protean Views; no. 29

William Spooner invented a new kind of novelty print in the 1830s when he published a series of "Protean Views". These lithographs look perfectly ordinary to the uninitiated, i.e. a colored print on the front and apparently blank on the back, but holding one up to a strong light in a darkened room reveals a completely different image. In this print, a view of Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey is "mysteriously" changed into a group portrait of the ghosts of William Shakespeare, Sir Walter Scott, and Lord Byron. Spooner created his "Protean Views" by printing two images back-to-back on thin paper, then covering one side with an even thinner blank sheet. This early example of the three literary greats being brought together is noteworthy in part because Byron was not actually memorialized in Poets' Corner until 1969 thanks to his scandalous lifestyle.

Spooner's Protean Views ; no. 29.

Great Britain -- England -- London.

ART 262522 copy 1 (size S)

ART 262522 copy 2 (size S)

cs1646