He wowed the world with a story about a mysterious old portrait. And now Oscar Wilde is himself at the centre of a fascinating tale about a picture – after a photograph from his Oxford days was discovered.
Discovery of the Photograph
The picture captures the playwright among his fellow students in the Cloisters of Magdalen College during 1876. They are dressed in suits and either boaters, boards, or bowler hats. The image was found in a Victorian photo album.
Wilde arrived as an undergraduate in 1874 and graduated four years later. After this, the Irish author would go on to become a literary giant of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with masterpieces such as The Picture of Dorian Gray – about a handsome man who sells his soul to preserve his youth, while his portrait ages instead.
Auction Details
The newly uncovered image is part of a collection that went under the hammer at Cirencester-based auction house Dominic Winter Auctioneers on Wednesday. The auctioneers expect the album, which features 90 miscellaneous photographs, to fetch between £3,000 to £5,000.
Historical Significance
As well as the iconic author, the image is also said to feature Christian Frederick Cole, who was Oxford University's first black graduate. He went on to become England's first black barrister, called to the Bar in 1883. He was born in Sierra Leone in 1852 and died of smallpox aged just 33.
