The Shadow that Lies Floating on the Floor. Illustration to The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe
Medium
Transfer lithograph on laid (Hollande) paper, only state
Dimensions
sheet: 21 5/8 x 13 3/4 in. (55 x 35 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1924
Accession Number
24.30.27(5)
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the haunting world of Edgar Allan Poe's *The Raven* with Édouard Manet's evocative illustration *The Shadow that Lies Floating on the Floor*, created in 1875. This transfer lithograph captures the poem's gothic melancholy, produced as part of a luxurious French edition translated by poet Stéphane Mallarmé. Manet, a pioneer of Impressionism renowned for his bold brushwork and modern subjects, ventured into printmaking here, blending his painterly touch with Poe's macabre narrative to visualize an eerie, disembodied shadow drifting across a dimly lit interior—perhaps evoking the narrat...
About the Artist
Edouard Manet|Edgar Allan Poe|Stéphane Mallarmé · 1832–1883
Édouard Manet (1832-1883) was a French painter who played a pivotal role in the transition from Realism to Impressionism, often called the 'Father of Modern Art.' Born into a wealthy Parisian family, Manet defied his father's wishes for a legal career to pursue painting, studying under academic artist Thomas Couture. His revolutionary works 'Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe' and 'Olympia' (both 1863) scand...