Art, Symbol & Imagination
Watchful and Angry Jealousy
Two contrasting shapes give jealousy a watchful and an angry form in Besant and Leadbeater's visual vocabulary. The upper figure curls like an alert snake, while the lower dark cloud throws out red points that the authors associate with anger. Their accompanying account distinguishes suspicion from the reaction to supposed evidence, explicitly allowing that this evidence may be imaginary. The plate therefore illustrates a particular Theosophical reading of emotion, not a means of diagnosing another person's feelings or establishing whether suspicion is justified.
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Citation
"Watchful and Angry Jealousy" [editorial title]. In Thought-Forms, Annie Besant and C. W. Leadbeater. 1905, Theosophical Publishing Society. Source scan leaf 35. Lumitheca. /gallery/image/art-thought-jealousy
Source details
Editorial title and description. Source details from the Library catalogue.
Both numbered panels are preserved together. Emotional colour meanings follow the primary text; individual artist attribution remains unknown.
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Watchful and Angry Jealousy. Thought-Forms. Scan leaf 35. Lumitheca. https://lumitheca.com/gallery/image/art-thought-jealousy