Swarmed Upon Me (1919) – Harry Clarke | Poe's Pit and the Pendulum

Harry Clarke's 1919 plate for Poe's The Pit and the Pendulum — the prisoner as the rats close in, printed as an archival art print.

Strapped to a wooden frame in a dungeon of the Inquisition, with a blade swinging lower with every pass, Poe's narrator survives by smearing the bonds with meat and letting the rats gnaw him free. Clarke takes the caption "They swarmed upon me in ever-accumulating heaps" and fills the plate with the crush of it, in black ink and nothing else.

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. The Pit and the Pendulum has two of them; this is the second.

It hangs well in a study, a library or a home office, 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.