The Bowman, frontispiece from The Epic of Kings, Stories Retold from Firdusi
Medium
Etching in black on cream wove paper
Dimensions
Image: 18.7 × 13.7 cm (7 3/8 × 5 7/16 in.); Plate: 19.7 × 14.7 cm (7 13/16 × 5 13/16 in.); Sheet: 29.8 × 22.9 cm (11 3/4 × 9 1/16 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
117548
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
This etching is one of two prints that Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema made to illustrate Helen Zimmern’s 19th-century translation of the great Persian epic poem Shahnameh (The King’s Book) by Firdusi from around A.D. 1000. Consisting of some 60,000 verses, the Shahnameh recounts the mythical and historical past of greater Iran, beginning with the creation of the world and the introduction of arts and civilization. It concludes with the Arab conquest of Persia.