Myself No Power (1919) – Harry Clarke | Poe's The Assignation

Harry Clarke's 1919 plate for Poe's The Assignation — a bystander rooted to the spot while a stranger dives for a drowning child, printed as an archival art print.

In Poe's story the infant son of the Marchesa Aphrodite falls from her Venetian palace into the canal below. The narrator can only watch — in Clarke's caption, "I had myself no power to move from the upright position I had assumed" — while a cloaked stranger plunges in to save the child. The Marchesa and the stranger are lovers, and the story ends in a shared, deliberate death. Clarke draws the held breath before any of it is known.

Clarke (1889–1931), the Dublin stained-glass artist, drew twenty-four plates for Harrap's 1919 edition of Poe's Tales of Mystery and Imagination, every one in black and white. This is the second of his two plates for The Assignation; the first is the Marchesa herself.

It hangs well in a study, a library or a hallway, anywhere the detail rewards a second look. Made to order, shipped worldwide and backed by hundreds of verified customer reviews.

Materials & craftsmanship

• Paper: 250 gsm fine art paper, matte, uncoated, natural off-white archival surface.
• Frame: oak or ash hardwood in black, white or natural wood, 20 mm profile, ready to hang.
• Protection: clear shatterproof plexiglass on framed prints.