A Femme Fatale, Male Face and Man from Behind (recto); An Angel Descending Stairs (verso)
Medium
Graphite
Dimensions
Sheet: 11 5/8 × 7 5/8 in. (29.5 × 19.4 cm) Mount: 13 9/16 × 10 1/16 in. (34.5 × 25.5 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Allen Staley, 2017
Accession Number
2017.259.7a, b
Art Historical Context
Theodor Richard Edward von Holst's *A Femme Fatale, Male and Man from Behind* (recto) and *An Angel Descending St* (verso), between 1836 and 1844, exemplifies the dramatic flair of British Romanticism. Working in graphite on a modest sheet measuring 11⅝ × 7⅝ inches, von Holst—a painter and illustrator influenced by Henry Fuselicaptured ethereal and seductive figures typical of his gothic imagination. The recto juxtaposes a mysterious femme fatale with fragmented male portraits, evoking tension and intrigue, while the's descending angel suggests otherworldly descent, a motif echoing Romantic fa...