Came shining through the Dusk an Angel Shape, The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam 

Edmund Dulac created this illustration for a 1909 edition of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. It visualizes the poem’s themes of earthly pleasure and beauty as a refuge from the difficulties of life. Here, Dulac relies on orientalist tropes, common in Britain at the turn of the century. He constructs an image of the “East” as a place of sensuality and mystery. This fictionalized Persia served as an escape from the social constraints of Victorian and Edwardian Britain. The woman’s bare feet and arms, the lush vines, and the implication of wine-making, all hint at a world of indulgence far from the realities of industrial Britain. To understand Dulac’s work fully, we should look to sources like popular literature, theatrical productions, and early cinema. These reveal the complex ways Western artists have imagined and interpreted other cultures. Such research helps us to understand the social and cultural conditions that shaped both the production and reception of art.