* Ryall (Henry Thomas, 1811-1867). The Pursuit of Pleasure (A Vision of Human Life), 1864, uncoloured mixed method engraving by Henry Ryall after Sir Joseph Noel Paton, published by Alexander Hill, very slight spotting and dust soiling, 800 x 1100 mm, framed in a near-contemporary gilt gesso moulding, facsimile key plate to verso of frameQty: (1)NOTESA moral and allegorical depiction of the fate of the pursuers of a hedonistic lifestyle. Pleasure - depicted as a sensuous and nubile young girl - is crowned with a wreath of poppies and has the wings of a Death's-Head Hawkmoth. Her escorts are two all-knowing putti who strew flowers and blow bubbles to lure on the massed throng behind them. Pleasure is pursued by a cavalcade of individuals, in the vanguard are an 'ecclesiastical dignitary', a 'son of toil', a monarch, a 'youth of luxury' and a 'man of genius'. They seem oblivious to the young girl and the unmarried mother that they trample underfoot. They are followed by a 'Bacchanal' and three 'unthinking daughters of vanity'. behind them is a 'votary of military glory and conquest' who is spattered with blood and treads humanity under his feet, supported by a soldier and a trumpeter dragging a captive behind them. Above the throng is a damsel borne by a fool and a gallant and after them a miser, a spooning couple and a 'tyrant king', blind and brandishing a flaming torch. Lastly, another figure who appears to be turning back. They rush towards a yawning pit whilst above them the Angel of Judgement fills the sky wielding a sword and carrying a open book.