- Title:
- Sigtryg with the Silken Beard (Design 69)
- Additional Title(s):
Verso: Persons of Horseback riding full speed toward a hill & seeming to Enter into it (Design 70)
The Fatal Sisters- Part Of:
- Date:
- between 1797 and 1798
- Materials & Techniques:
- Watercolor with pen and black ink and graphite on moderately thick, slightly textured, cream wove paper with inlaid letterpress page
- Dimensions:
- Sheet: 16 1/2 x 12 3/4 inches (41.9 x 32.4 cm)
- Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:
Inscribed in black ink upper right: "3"; on verso in black ink upper left: "4"
Lettered on inlaid page: "PREFACE. | IN the eleventh century, Sigurd, Earl of the | Orkney islands, went with a fleet of ships, | and a considerable body of troops, into Ire- | land, to the assistance of Sigtryg with the silken | beard, who was then making war on his father- | in-law Brian, King of Dublin. The Earl | and all his forces were cut to pieces, and Sig- | tryg was in danger of a total defeat; but the | enemy had a greater loss, by the death of | Brian, their King, who fell in the action. | On Christmas-day, (the day of the battle,) a | native of Caithness in Scotland saw, at a dis- | tance, a number of persons on horseback, | riding full speed towards a hill, and seeming | to enter into it. Curiosity led him to follow | H2 them;"; Lettered on verso, on inlaid page: "110 PREFACE. | them; till looking through an opening in the | rocks, he saw twelve gigantic figures resem- | bling women: they were all employed about | a loom, and as they wove, they sung the fol- | lowing dreadful song; which when they had | finished, they tore the web into twelve pieces, | and, each taking her portion, galloped six to | the north, and as many to the south. | THE"
- Credit Line:
- Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
- Copyright Status:
- Public Domain
- Accession Number:
- B1992.8.11(35)
- Classification:
- Drawings & Watercolors
- Collection:
- Prints and Drawings
- Subject Terms:
- armor | beard | cape | crown (costume component) | hill | horses (animals) | joust | king (person) | knight (landholder) | lance | literary theme | man | men | religious and mythological subject | shield | staff weapons | text
- Access:
- Accessible by appointment in the Study Room [Request]
Note: The Study Room is open by appointment. Please visit the Study Room page on our website for more details. - Link:
- https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:3659
- Export:
- XML
- IIIF Manifest:
- JSON
Colin Cross, Blake revealed, William Blake : Discovery of a Masterwork , Observer, vol. 12, November 21, 1971, pp. 19-23, V 1245 Detached from Observer colour magazine [ORBIS]
Arnold Fawcus, Unknown Watercolours by William Blake, Illustrated London News, vol. 259, No. 6881, December 25, 1971, pp. 45-46, 49-51, Illustrated London News Historical Archive [ORBIS]