Tailpiece (page 352) from The Fables of Aesop
Thomas Bewick
British, 1753–1828
1818
A tiny wood-engraved tailpiece by Thomas Bewick that closes the page of Aesop’s Fables with a rustic vignette of a countryman and two dogs, intended to punctuate the text with a compact visual moral flourish.
Up close the miniature scene is startlingly detailed—minute, energetic lines and tight cross-hatching form small, expressive figures that sit like an inked punctuation mark at the foot of the creamy page.
Bewick’s economical, expressive wood engravings helped redefine book illustration in the early 19th century by making lively, mass-reproducible images a standard part of everyday reading and influencing generations of illustrators and printers.
Medium
Wood engraving from an illustrated book with 323 wood engravings and one etching and engraving
Dimensions
composition (irreg.): 1 1/4 × 1 3/4" (3.1 × 4.5 cm); page (irreg.): 8 1/4 × 5 5/16" (21 × 13.5 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
The Louis E. Stern Collection
Accession
680.1964.302
Palette
Exhibitions
