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SAVOYV8_icon7_beardsley_rhinegold

The framed frontispiece, in portrait orientation, combines a line-block reproduction of Beardsley’s pen-and-ink design with letterpress. The frontispiece includes the opera’s name in the bottom left corner of the page, it reads: “THE COMEDY OF THE RHINEGOLD” [caps]. The design presents as a stage curtain, with the publishing information on the scalloped decorated bottom edge and the illustration set into a frame on the face of the curtain, surrounded by flame-like decorations. The bottom edge of the curtain, which occupies about a third of the image, is divided into two parts; the lower half is white and the upper half is white. The opera’s title is separated out with one word on each line so that they are stacked on top of one another. “THE COMEDY OF” [caps] is inked in black in the white section, whereas “THE RHINEGOLD” [caps] is inked in white in the black section. At the very bottom edge, below the scalloped fringe of the curtain, there is an ornament frieze created out of three repeated shapes. The decoration looks like an eye with three interlinked hoops where the pupil ought to be. On the left edge, moving up from the fringe to the curtain, there are three roses. Within the framed image on the centre of the curtain there are three figures. The central figure is nude save for fabric hanging off their right elbow and more fabric which passes in front of their groin. The figure is androgynous. They have their right hand extended out and down. Their hair is black and takes up much of the background. There is a second androgynous figure by the first’s right shoulder, though only the top half of this figure’s face is visible and nothing else. The third androgynous nude figure stands on the right edge of the page so that only their head and chest are visible. Their black hair blends into the black hair of the first figure.