Artwork
The Peri's First Pilgrimage
The Peri's First Pilgrimage is a watercolor work on paper by the British Romanticist artist Edward Corbould. It dates from 1838 and is held in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum.
About this work
Overview
Edward Corbould’s 1838 watercolour, titled The Peri’s First Pilgrimage, is an illustration taken from Thomas Moore’s Oriental romance Lalla Rookh. The signed work portrays three female figures within a mist‑filled forest, rendered in a palette of muted greens and soft, filtered light that suggests a twilight atmosphere.
Subject & Meaning
The composition presents a kneeling woman in a red dress with gold trim, a second figure in a pale blue gown holding a staff and gazing upward, and a third, almost ethereal, woman in white hovering slightly above the forest floor. The arrangement evokes a ritualistic pilgrimage, hinting at themes of devotion, ascent, and the supernatural presence of a peri, a spirit from Persian folklore.
Technique & Style
Corbould employs delicate washes of watercolour to model form, while contrasting illuminated patches with deep shadow creates a chiaroscuro effect that lends the scene a dreamlike, ghostly quality. The half‑lit face of the kneeling figure and the inner glow of the floating woman demonstrate the artist’s skill in manipulating light to suggest both physical and spiritual illumination.
History & Provenance
Signed and dated by Corbould, the illustration was likely produced as a commercial plate for the 1838 edition of Lalla Rookh. Its provenance traces back to the original publication, and the work has since been retained in collections that document 19th‑century literary illustration and British watercolour practice.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Edward Corbould had a habit of turning his studio into a stage. He’d drape cloths like scenery, pose his kids as characters, and paint them into fairy tales, only instead of knights, his kids got winged sprites. In 1838…
