Frank Cadogan Cowper. Titania Sleeps in "A Midsummer Night's Dream," 1928.


Oil on canvas, approximately 35.5 x 45 inches. Kapitan Museum, Tokyo.


Cowper was one of the last painters to show the influence of the Pre-Raphaelites with a meticulous attention to the details of the flora and fauna of his woodland scene. Cowper's subject and style are in most respects anachronistic; not only did the Pre-Raphaelite style look old-fashioned and imitative by 1928, but the taste for paintings based on literary and historical subjects had passed with the last century. The only "modern" touch is this sensual Titania's gown, looking like it might have been designed by a commercial artist specializing in art nouveau or art deco patterns.