# Why is the man on the cover of "The Picture of Dorian Gray" by Oscar WIlde there? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 4, 2006, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-man-on-the-cover-of-the-picture-of-dorian-gray-by-oscar-wilde-there/382831 "2006-12-04T17:43:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![alterego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6bbea6/32.png) [@alterego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alterego)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-man-on-the-cover-of-the-picture-of-dorian-gray-by-oscar-wilde-there/382831/1 "2006-12-04T17:43:54Z")
I apologize in advance - the person’s name in the painting on the cover of [this book](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1593080255/ref=nosim/librarythin08-20) by Oscar Wilde is written on the back. I have forgotten what it is and no longer have a copy of the book. It was never clear to me why this particular person is featured on the cover. Can anyone shed some light on this? ---
**Author:** ![alterego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6bbea6/32.png) [@alterego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alterego)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-man-on-the-cover-of-the-picture-of-dorian-gray-by-oscar-wilde-there/382831/2 "2006-12-04T18:45:33Z")
Thanks to Google Books, the cover painting is “Portrait of [Franz Liszt](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Liszt)” by [Henri Lehmann](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Lehmann). Other than that Wilde and Liszt were contemporaries, I still don’t see why Liszt was put on on the cover of Wilde’s book. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-man-on-the-cover-of-the-picture-of-dorian-gray-by-oscar-wilde-there/382831/3 "2006-12-04T18:52:40Z")
It’s just one edition of the book. The publisher probably decided that painting was public domain and apropriately dark and brooding. Here’s some other covers: [1](http://www.amazon.com/Picture-Dorian-Gray-Penguin-Classics/dp/0141804556/ref=ed_oe_a/102-5260455-1196922) [2](http://www.amazon.com/Picture-Dorian-Modern-Library-Paperbacks/dp/0375751513/ref=ed_oe_p/102-5260455-1196922) [3](http://www.amazon.com/Picture-Dorian-Gray-Modern-Library/dp/0679600019/ref=ed_oe_h/102-5260455-1196922) [4](http://www.amazon.com/Picture-Dorian-Gray-Whole-Story/dp/067089494X/ref=ed_oe_h/102-5260455-1196922) [5](http://www.amazon.com/Picture-Dorian-Gray-Classic-Fiction/dp/9626340746/ref=ed_oe_a/102-5260455-1196922) [6](http://www.amazon.com/Picture-Dorian-Gray-Tor-Classics/dp/0812567110/ref=ed_oe_p/102-5260455-1196922) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-man-on-the-cover-of-the-picture-of-dorian-gray-by-oscar-wilde-there/382831/4 "2006-12-04T18:54:06Z")
[QUOTE=alterego] Thanks to Google Books, the cover painting is “Portrait of [Franz Liszt](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Liszt)” by [Henri Lehmann](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Lehmann). Other than that Wilde and Liszt were contemporaries, I still don’t see why Liszt was put on on the cover of Wilde’s book. [/QUOTE] I would presume that we are to take the portrait of Liszt as a portait of the Dorian Grey Character. The pose, lighting, and general look of the Liszt portrait definitely reflects the characterization of Dorian Grey in the book. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-man-on-the-cover-of-the-picture-of-dorian-gray-by-oscar-wilde-there/382831/5 "2006-12-04T21:37:45Z")
[QUOTE=pulykamell] I would presume that we are to take the portrait of Liszt as a portait of the Dorian Grey Character. The pose, lighting, and general look of the Liszt portrait definitely reflects the characterization of Dorian Grey in the book. [/QUOTE] Except there has to be a hand visible to get covered in blood. Isn’t **garygnu** ’s #3 a picture of Oscar Wilde himself? I had yet another version, an oil portrait of a standing handsome blond guy. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-man-on-the-cover-of-the-picture-of-dorian-gray-by-oscar-wilde-there/382831/6 "2006-12-04T22:49:01Z")
There’s no specific reason; it was chosen because it gives the impression the designer wanted to give, and it was probably free. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-man-on-the-cover-of-the-picture-of-dorian-gray-by-oscar-wilde-there/382831/7 "2006-12-04T22:59:23Z")
Wait–you \*do \*know that it’s fiction? That there’s no \*actual \*picture of Dorian Gray to put on the cover? ---
**Author:** ![alterego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6bbea6/32.png) [@alterego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alterego)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-man-on-the-cover-of-the-picture-of-dorian-gray-by-oscar-wilde-there/382831/8 "2006-12-04T23:02:40Z")
[QUOTE=lissener] Wait–you \*do \*know that it’s fiction? That there’s no \*actual \*picture of Dorian Gray to put on the cover? [/QUOTE] … ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-man-on-the-cover-of-the-picture-of-dorian-gray-by-oscar-wilde-there/382831/9 "2006-12-04T23:52:05Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] Except there has to be a hand visible to get covered in blood. Isn’t **garygnu** ’s #3 a picture of Oscar Wilde himself? I had yet another version, an oil portrait of a standing handsome blond guy. [/QUOTE] I’m not saying it’s supposed to be _the_ Picture of Dorian Gray that ages in the book. I’m saying that it’s a portrait of Dorian Gray, the main character in the book, i.e. not the actual painting in the book. ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2006, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-man-on-the-cover-of-the-picture-of-dorian-gray-by-oscar-wilde-there/382831/10 "2006-12-05T05:21:04Z")
One of my dearest friends works in the art department of a very well-known national publisher here in NYC. Just a couple of weeks ago she was telling me about a cover she was working on for a novel that’s in the public domain. Many editions of the same story published by rival houses feature a sailing ship on the cover, she told me. But when she actually took the time to read some of the novel she learned that the book does not mention a sailing ship at all; the vessel is a steamship. She rolled her eyes and screamed, “I don’t think _anybody_ reads any of these books before they slap any old cover on them!”