THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD HAND (Stories)
The House of the Dead Hand centers on Wyant, an art scholar visiting Siena on behalf of his friend Professor Clyde, who wants a description or photograph of an undocumented Leonardo owned by the eccentric English expatriate Doctor Lombard. Lombard lives in a decaying palace marked by a marble carving of a drooping dead hand above its door. Wyant is admitted after a stranger at his hotel table, who turns out to be Count Ottaviano Celsi, slips a note into his introduction letter and instructs him to ring twice. Wyant meets Lombard, his vapid Englishwoman wife who longs for Bonchurch and muffins, and their daughter Sybilla, a subdued young woman who works ceaselessly at needlework. Lombard reveals that the Leonardo technically belongs to Sybilla: she spent her entire inherited legacy buying the picture so her father could possess it, thereby leaving herself financially dependent and unable to marry without selling it. Lombard ceremonially unveils the painting — a woman pouring wine from a skull for a Dionysus figure, with a crucified Christ in the background and the inscription "Lux Mundi" — and delivers an ecstatic monologue on its inexhaustible symbolism, forbidding any photograph or sketch of it, though he grudgingly permits Wyant to return and take notes. Leaving the house, Wyant discovers he has unknowingly carried a letter addressed to Count Ottaviano, which falls from his pocket in a church. The Count intercepts him and confesses: he and Sybilla are secretly attached, but Lombard has blocked the match because Sybilla's inheritance is tied up in the picture. The Count has schemed to get her to a convent under his aunt's authority so she can independently sell the Leonardo and defy her father, using visitors like Wyant to smuggle correspondence. On Wyant's next visit, Sybilla manages a moment alone with him and begs him to return that afternoon on a pretext, so that when her father locks the two of them in with the picture, she can slip away and escape the house while the key is later returned. Wyant refuses, though he tells her not to make any promises binding her future to her father. Troubled by the entanglement, he leaves Siena for Florence that same afternoon rather than get further involved. Months later in England, Wyant reads that Doctor Lombard has died suddenly, and assumes his flight was vindicated — that Sybilla is now free to marry the Count and sell the picture. But he notices no report of the picture's sale. Years afterward, chance brings him back to Siena. He learns Sybilla never married; Count Ottaviano waited but eventually married another woman. Sybilla and her mother still live in the house, unchanged except for age, and the Leonardo still hangs there. Sybilla shows Wyant the picture again and, when he calls it beautiful, states flatly that she has always hated it. She explains that she never promised her father anything before his sudden death, believed herself free, but found she could not bring herself to sell it — that her father, in some persistent sense, remains in the room with her whenever she tries, preventing her still. She tells Wyant he should have helped her that day, and that it is now too late.
By Edith Wharton · First published 1904 · Genre: Gothic Fiction, Psychological Fiction, Mystery · 14,268 words
First lines
I
"Above all," the letter ended, "don't leave Siena without seeing Doctor Lombard's Leonardo. Lombard is a queer old Englishman, a mystic or a madman (if the two are not synonymous), and a devout student of the Italian Renaissance. He has lived for years in Italy, exploring its remotest corners, and has lately picked up an undoubted Leonardo, which came to light in a farmhouse near Bergamo. It is believed to be one of the missing pictures mentioned by Vasari, and is at any rate, according to the most competent authorities, a genuine and almost untouched example of the best period.
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THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD HAND (Stories) is listed on Textopian as a novella by Edith Wharton, dated 1904 CE.
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- Work type: Novella
- Author: Edith Wharton
- Date: 1904 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Gothic Fiction, Psychological Fiction, Mystery, Historical Fiction
- Length: 14,268 words
- Structure: 1 section, 285 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)
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Similar titles
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- The Disowned Book Ii by Edward Bulwer Lytton
- The True Reading Of A Letter by Egerton Castle
- The Shadow by Ellen Glasgow
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- Geraldine Or The Fatal Boon A Romantic Tale by Edward Bulwer Lytton
Genres
- Gothic Fiction — The story is characterized by elements of fear, horror, death, and gloom, as well as romantic elements, such as nature, individuality, and very high emotion, which are typical of Gothic Fiction.
- Psychological Fiction — The narrative delves into the complex mental and emotional states of its characters, exploring their motivations, insecurities, and fears.
- Mystery — The plot involves the unraveling of secrets and the resolution of hidden mysteries.
- Historical Fiction — The story is set in a historical period and includes references to real historical events or figures.
Tags
Gothic Fiction · Short Stories · American Literature · Classic Literature · Mystery · Suspense · Romance · Tragedy · Family Drama · Social Class · Wealth · Power Dynamics