Skip to Content
title

Theodora by Benjamin-Constant

 
Accession number AR.EP.BP.0551
Creator
Places
France
Date
1892
Measurements
8.75 x 11.25 inches
Materials/Techniques
drawing
Work types
book plate

Description

TRANSCRIPTION

Photogravure Goupil & Co.

XXXIV

Theodora

Benjamin Constant, Artist

Theodora, a woman of the lowest origin, has become the wife of Justinian, the Emperor of Byzantium. Shameless in her debaucheries, she has lover after lover, and among them, Andréas, a youth who is leagued with conspirators against the life of Justinian. Theodora has learned from Andréas the secret of the plot, and to save herself from the reproaches of her husband she warns him of the danger that threatens his life. In the very moment of the betrayal, Andréas enters with his fellow-conspirator, Marcellus. Hoping to hide discovery, Theodora kills Marcellus, and tries to save Andréas, but he refuses her protection, and reviles her for her crimes. She procures from Thamyris, a sorceress, a love-potion, hoping to win back her lover, but it proves to be a poison, and Andréas dies in drinking it. Justinian orders Theodora to be strangled, and as she bares her throat to the cord, the curtain falls.

XXXIV

Collection

Ephemera Collection
 

Repository

Dumbarton Oaks Archives, 054.SUZ.02.PCbox.096
Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC
Accession number AR.EP.BP.0551
Creator
Places
France
Date
1892
Measurements
8.75 x 11.25 inches
Materials/Techniques
drawing
Work types
book plate

Index Terms

Related Items