Walter Crane - Plato meditating before the grave of his teacher, Socrates, 1884

Plato meditating on immortality before socrates, the butterfly, skull and poppy, about 400bc. Signed with a monogram and dated cvv [with a crane] / 84 in grey ink at the lower right. A study for a wood engraving of 1889, which also appeared as an illustration in an advertisement for the effervescent compound eno’s ‘fruit salt’ in the graphic of 3 february 1894, captioned ‘socrates meditating on immortality before socrates, the butterfly, skull, and poppy, about 400 b. C. ’. A similar advertisement for the same product that appeared in 1892 likewise used the same illustration. Referencereference. Date: 1884.