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Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema

The Bowman, frontispiece from The Epic of Kings, Stories Retold from Firdusi

1882
Etching in black on cream wove paper
18.7 × 13.7 cm (7.4 × 5.4 in)

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In the collection of Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago · as of July 2026

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FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG

This etching is one of two prints that Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema made to illustrate Helen Zimmern’s 19th-century translation of the great Persian epic poem Shahnameh (The King’s Book) by Firdusi from around A.D. 1000. Consisting of some 60,000 verses, the Shahnameh recounts the mythical and historical past of greater Iran, beginning with the creation of the world and the introduction of arts and civilization. It concludes with the Arab conquest of Persia.

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