The Many Illustrators of
A Tale of Two Cities
2: Rowland Wheelwright
That's right, we're jumping centuries and mediums!
...specifically, from Phiz's engravings for the original 1859 monthly installments to Wheelwright's paintings for this 1925 edition!
(warning: in the following, there is some violent imagery, and one image in the third grouping has blood)
As I'd mentioned in the announcement post, these illustrators will be highlighted completely out of chronological order to make it more organic when I continue to find more and more artists' work to add to the queue - so I wanted to start off with a particularly dramatic leap in time (and style!) to give a sense of the sheer variety of art we're going to be looking at here!
This also happens to be one of the sets that I scanned myself - most of these beautiful illustrations haven't anywhere on the internet (by my own intensive research at least!) until now.
It's my joy to finally get to share them!
Overall, I want to give my own opinions and takes on the work of each illustrator as little as possible so that everyone can experience it in their own way, but the true beauty in his attention to detail in color, characterization, costuming, composition, and shadow calls for some comment.
This is the work of someone who loved and appreciated both the story itself and the act of illustrating it - I'm grateful to him for bringing these images into existence.
& the standard endnote for all posts in this series:
This post is intended to act as the start of a forum on the given illustrator, so if anyone has anything to add - requests to see certain drawings in higher definition (since Tumblr compresses images), corrections to factual errors, sources for better-quality versions of the illustrations, further reading, fun facts, any questions, or just general commentary - simply do so on this post, be it in a comment/tags or the replies!💫
9 notes
·
View notes
I NEED violet and edmund's reaction to Portia planning on marrying Cousin Jack. Like do they get angry or do they think he did something? Do they outright kill him or get rid of him in other ways?
I gotchu! Since you and @lyramundana are both wanting a part two, and I am not hard to enable, here it is!
For part one thankfully I wrote it in such a way that I could throw it in any of the variations of the isekai and yanderes aus.
Here is part one if you're curious. Link
-
Violet shattered the cup.
Edmund scooted closer to his wife and pried her grip open so the pieces didn't cut her. She didn't look at him.
"Darling?" Edmund followed his wife's line of sight.
Oh hell no.
Portia was walking arm in arm with the new Lord Featherington. Mary followed a few steps behind them as if acting as a chaperon instead of in her usual pace at Portia's side. The kids trailed after, all of them throwing discreet glares at the new lord.
It was a statement, one that wasn't often made but many knew what it meant. The new Lord Featherington intended to marry the dowager lady.
Violet was eyeing the knives too closely. They can't do this here, it's too open, too many eyes.
"We need to leave," Edmund whispered to his wife.
"Edmund," Violet argued. "We can't-"
"Now," Edmund ordered.
Back in Edmund's office Violet threw a vase Edmund kept hundreds of in case she needed to break something.
"What has that bastard done to her?" Violet hissed. "Is he blackmailing her? Threatening her? Portia Featherington would never enter into a marriage with a man like that."
Edmund didn't have an answer for his wife. This didn't make sense at all. This Lord Featherington had no interest in the estate all these years, practically leaving it to the previous lords family. Now he shows up out of no where and tries marry the former lady? What game was he playing at? Was he a fortune hunter? Or was there some truth to the whispers around the ton of Portia and Mary being more than friends? Are they using the new lord as a cover up?
Violet gasped, pulling Edmund out of his thoughts. "What if he did something to her!? What if he has attempted to ruin her?! Or the children? I swear if has laid one ungentlemanly hand on the children!"
Edmund pulls Violet into an embrace. "Don't worry love. We got rid of one Lord Featherington before, we can get rid of this one too."
Violet smiled.
"Don't kill him."
Violet frowned.
Their third born, Colin, had slipped into the room. "At least not yet, don't kill him yet." He pulled out a journal. "I have been investigating this new lord since his arrival. I found it rather unsettling how he came in over night and then proceeded to try charm the rest of the ton."
Edmund nodded. This was good. He knew none of his children liked the new lord, especially his sons since he was an unmarried man around their loves.
"He has sunk his claws into a few. I would like to declaw him from the Featherintons before ending him. They do not need scandal to fall upon them just because they got stuck with him for a lord."
Violet sighed. Edmund patted her shoulder. He knows she loves a good hunt but they need to put Portia, Mary, and the children first this time, even if it was harder to do.
Edmund turned back to Colin but smirked when he noticed two things. First there was a love bite that just peaked out from underneath his jaw. The second thing is there was a red hair stuck in his cravat.
Well it appears one of his sons was farther along than the others. Perhaps he'll be a grandpa soon. Edmund hoped so, it didn't matter to him if they had to get a special license, hell he'll drive them up to Gretna Green himself if that's what was needed.
Edmund approached Portia at the next ball. "A dance my lady?"
Portia laughed, it sounded shocked more than anything. "Oh no my lord. I haven't danced in years."
Grabbing her hand he led them to the dance floor. "All the more reason for you to my lady."
"Viscount Bridgerton, I am far too old for this," Portia insisted.
"Nonsense," Edmund said. "Besides, I have business deal for you."
That caught Portia's attention. She never could say no to a good business deal. "I will have to get Lord Featherington."
Edmund leaned down to whisper in Portia's ear. "Not him. I will only make deals with you."
Portia shivered. Edmund could see Violet grinning at them over Portia's shoulder.
31 notes
·
View notes