John Byam Shaw

John Byam Shaw (1872-1919) was a British painter and illustrator who did a lot of very sentimental stuff but also some more interesting work. Most of the images I have found are color illustrations for books, but however they were printed they have aged badly and few are worth reproducing. This one, though, remains clear and striking, and it has a bit of a back story. It was from The Garden of Kama, a 1901 book of love poems that were said to have been translated from the Hindi by Laurence Hope. Actually they were original works by an English poet named Adela Florence Nicolson.

Omphale, 1914

And Who Knoweth Whether He Shall Be a Wise Man or a Fool

Amor Mundi

And one more illustration, from Edgar Allen Poe's poems.