ford madox brown - eTheses Repository - University of Birmingham

I'm going home at last."
In eager haste she tries to rise
And struggled up in bed,
With luminous, transfigured eyes,
As if they glassed the opening skies
Fell back, sir, and was dead. 148
These later illustrations exemplify Brown's style in the few years before he died. The
more sensuous nature of the Aesthetic illustrations for the Moxon Byron has taken
over and the sharp precision of designs such as The Prisoner of Chillon has
disappeared. However, this does not detract from their merit and this looser, velvety
style seems to add to the magic of his last illustrations for his grandson's first two
books, fairy stories called The Brown Owl and The Feather. 149 In 1892 Brown
designed two illustrations for The Brown Owl (Figs. 178 and 179) and one for The
Feather (Fig. 180). He may have moved away from the punishing 'realism' of the
Pre-Raphaelites and his determination to be historically accurate, but as these
illustrations, foreshadowing the curves of Art Nouveau, accompany fairy tales, neither
of these considerations seem appropriate.
Conclusion
Ford Madox Brown's published illustrations, like his drawings, have been overlooked
in favour of his 'Pre-Raphaelite' paintings notably Work (Fig. 4) and The Last of
148
Op. cit. at note 147, p. 31
149
Ford Madox Hueffer, The Brown Owl: A Fairy Story and The Feather both published in London by
T. F. Unwin in 1892.
192