Midsummer Night's Dream

An accomplished English printmaker, Samuel Cousins (1801–1887) has the distinction of being the first engraver academician in the London Royal Academy, appointed in 1855 and then elevated to a full Royal Academician in 1867. In A Midsummer Night's Dream Cousins reproduces a painting by Sir Edwin Landseer (1802–1873), the widely popular Victorian painter, and is one of seven prints made by him after Landseer's work. From Shakespeare's fantastical comedy, the work depicts Titania, Queen of the Fairies, nestling up to Bottom. Under Puck's spell, the beautiful Titania fell in love with this donkey-headed creature. Puck appears naked in the foreground, watching the hilarious scene unfold, with a group of small winged ferries riding on white rabbits. Cousins exhibited an impression of the print at the Royal Academy in 1858, where it was well received. Upon seeing the print Landseer declared it to be Cousins's greatest work. The present mezzotint was skillfully hand-colored by an unknown hand at a later date.