The ghost of Ravia, dressed in white with blood on her dress, appears to her husband Cazem during a storm at night, in front of Gothic ruins, and asks him to avenge her murder. Coloured aquatint, ca. 1810.

Date:
1810
Reference:
573795i
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Description

An episode (set in a fictitious part of the Ottoman empire) in: C. F. Barrett, The black castle: or the spectre of the forest, an historical romance, London: S. Fisher, 1800, pp. 19-20: "At this instant a tremendous crash shook the forest to its center, and the spirit of Ravia appeared before her astonished husband. Her white robes floated in the air, a blue vapour surrounded her; and she pointed with her finger to a ghastly wound in her breast. Cazem fell on his knees before her, and in a tremulous accent requested to know her commands, and promised, in the most solemn manner, to execute them. The spectre viewed him tenderly for a while, and then proceeded to inform him that the tyrant Asphar, taking advantage of his absence, had, by a well-laid scheme, drew her into his power; and after offending her chaste ears with a declaration of his brutal passion, on finding her deaf to his entreaties, had at length, worn out with her obstinacy, thrown her into a gloomy dungeon, where one fatal night he stole upon her unsuspecting slumber; and having gained his horrid purpose, in order to bury all in oblivion, plunged his poignard in her breast, and buried her remains under the pavement of her dungeon. She then added, in a more hollow tone of voice, her commands for revenge on her cruel ravisher; and immediately (upon Cazem's swearing to perform the injunction thus solemnly enjoined) ascended into the upper regions of the air, offering up prayers to the divine disposer of all things for the success and safety of her husband."

Publication/Creation

1810

Physical description

1 print : aquatint, with watercolour ; image 13.4 x 16.9 cm

Lettering

Sacred to the memory of the murthered Ravia

Reference

Wellcome Collection 573795i

Type/Technique

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