1944.1.39

Collection type

Object

Description

Line drawing showing the driving out of devils

Long description

Large line drawing by Alfred Robinson showing the driving out of devils (European representation), presumed to have been made to illustrate a publication by E. B. Tylor

Geographical reference

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Europe > Northern Europe > United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Cultural groups

English

Person

Maker Alfred Robinson (signed)

Field collector Edward Burnett Tylor

PRM source Edward Burnett Tylor

Date / Period

Date made: Circa 1885-1895

Date collected

By 1917

Acquisition information

Donated: 1917 Found unentered: 01/1944

Materials and processes

Material Paper Plant, Material Pigment, Process Drawn, Process Painted

Object numbers

Accession number: 1944.1.39

Research and responses

This is a large line drawing by Alfred Robinson showing the 'driving out of devils', thought to have been made to illustrate an unidentified publication on religion or animism by E. B. Tylor (rather than a lecture, as the accession entry states). The accession entry suggests that the drawing reproduces a fifteen-century European depiction of the subject - see [1944.1.42] for a different representation of (apparently) the same subject. Alfred Robinson made line drawings such as this, using the same kind of paper, for a number of Tylor's publications - see, for example, his drawings for Tylor's article on 'The Winged Figures of the Assyrian and Other Ancient Monuments' (1944.1.25 - .31 and 1944.1.49 - .52); and it appears that he typically signed his works, in the same manner as here, where they were intended for publication (normally as engravings). For these reasons, one concludes that this drawing was probably used as an illustration in one of Tylor's publications (as yet unidentified) rather than to illustrate a lecture. [PG 23/01/2014]

Search terms: Picture and Graphic Art, Religion, Drawing, Painting