A Man of Letters 1894.

William Rothenstein 1872 - 1945.

Lithograph. 12.5 x 9.3 cm. | Signed in the stone “Rothenstein, Paris ’94.”
Collection of Stephen Calloway

Published in an edition of two copies, for distribution to the poet's friends and admirers. Originally drawn at Soames's request as a frontispiece for his intended, though then, as yet, un-named book of verses, the image seems unduly flattering in the way it suggests both a health and a repose unlikely from what we know of the poet's rather more febrile character.

    Muddiman in The Men of the Nineties, his study of the fin-de-siècle, referred to “Will Rothenstein's lithographs, which are an absolute necessity to any one who would live a while with the shades of these men.”