The Bowman, frontispiece from The Epic of Kings, Stories Retold from Firdusi

Description

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.

The Bowman, frontispiece from The Epic of Kings, Stories Retold from Firdusi

Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema

1882

Accession Number

117548

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

Museum

The Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

Credit Line

Gift of Dorothy Braude Edinburg to the Harry B. and Bessie K. Braude Memorial Collection