Oscar Wilde by Napoleon Sarony, albumen print on card mount, sheet 30.6 x 18.4 cm, on mount 33 x 19 cm. Notes 1045 U.S. Copyright Office. Title from item. No. 22. Copyright by N. Sarony. Exhibited: "Oscar Wilde : the Apostle of Beauty" at the Haggerty Museum of Art, Marquette University, 1999. Exhibited: "Revising Himself : Walt Whitman" at the Library of Congress, 2005. Exhibited: "Oscar Wilde : L'Impertinent Absolu" at the Petite Palais, City of Paris Fine Arts Museum, Paris, France, September 2016 - January 2017.

oscar wilde alfred douglas

This is the calling card left by Marquis of Queensbury calling Oscar Wilde a ‘posing somdomite’ (presumably intending to spell ‘sodomite’). It was presented as evidence as part of Wilde’s 1895 trial. On 18 February 1895 the Marquis of Queensbury – also known as Sir John Sholto Douglas – left his calling card at the Albemarle Club, labelled ‘For Oscar Wilde posing Somdomite’. He took issue with Wilde’s ongoing relationship with his son Alfred. Wilde put Lord Queensbury on trial for libel. However, during this trial, evidence was brought up that eventually got Wilde convicted for ‘gross indecency’, including witness statements from male sex workers. Wilde was convicted due to the ‘Labouchere Amendment’ of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885, which made it illegal for any man to commit an act of ‘gross indecency’ with another man. Sexual acts no longer had to be proven. Learn more about LGBTQ+ history in our lesson resources: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/sessions-and-resour...

Oscar Wilde at a gathering at Magdalen College, Oxford

Oscar Wilde MS

Oscar Wilde 'Personal Impressions of America' Flyer (1883)

Picture of Oscar Wilde taken at the Studio of Napoleon Sarony in New York City.

Oscar Wilde's prison record

Oscar Wilde, photographic print on card mount: albumen.

Oscar Wilde é mort dans cette maison