A Matter of Fact
1900
ca. 19th century
6 in. x 8 in. (15.24 cm x 20.32 cm)
William Strang,
Scottish,
(1859–1921)
Object Type:
Prints
Creation Place:
Europe, England
Medium and Support:
etching with aquatint on paper
Credit Line:
Carleton College Art Collection
Accession Number:
1998.038
From portfolio Thirty Illustrations to Rudyard Kipling's Short Stories, Macmillan & Co., 1901. A Matter of Fact envisions the strange expertience of three newspapermen while on board a tramp steamer out of Cape Town, South Africa. According to a news account, they see "a great sea-serpent, blind, white and smelling of musk, stricken to death by a submarine volcano, and assisted by his loving wife to die in mid-ocean." The newspaperment, initially excited at the prospect of having the "scoop of the century," ultimately understand that no one will believe this "matter of fact."