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Tom Thumb

Watercolour
03/1896 (drawn)
Artist/Maker
Beatrix Potter (artist)
Place of origin
Great Britain (drawn)

Drawing in watercolour and pen and ink over pencil. Leaping mouse is ridden by a fair-haired boy waring a pink peaked cap and pink Fauntleroy suit (lace collar, bows at the knee) and pink pumps with rosettes. Panelled wainscoting just visible behind.


Object details

Categories
Animals and Wildlife
Anthropomorphism
Children & Childhood
Illustration
Watercolours
Woman Artist
Object type
Watercolour
TitleTom Thumb (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Watercolour and pen and ink over pencil on paper
Ink
Pencil
Paper (Fiber Product)
Watercolour (Paint)
Watercolour Painting (Technique)
Brief description
Drawing, Tom Thumb, watercolour and pen and ink over pencil, by Beatrix Potter, Great Britain, 1896, Linder Collection object no. LC.21.A.4, catalogue no. 5.8
Physical description
Drawing in watercolour and pen and ink over pencil. Leaping mouse is ridden by a fair-haired boy waring a pink peaked cap and pink Fauntleroy suit (lace collar, bows at the knee) and pink pumps with rosettes. Panelled wainscoting just visible behind.
Dimensions
  • Height: 105mm
  • Width: 176mm
Size of paper.
Production typeUnique
Marks and inscriptions
'HBP - / March 96' (In pencil.)
Gallery label
In the fairy tale of ‘Tom Thumb’, King Arthur knights Tom and gives him a mouse to ride. In Potter’s drawing, Sir Thomas looks more like Little Lord Fauntleroy than the story character, whose shirt was supposed to be made of butterfly wings. Potter must certainly have known Henry Fielding’s 1730 play, which also includes the character Princess Huncamunca, since she named two rescued mice Tom Thumb and Hunca Munca and wrote a story about them.(November 2019)
Credit line
Given by the Linder Collection
Object history
Given by Leslie Linder (1904-1973) to the National Book League (now the Book Trust) in 1970 as part of a representative selection of Beatrix Potter's work. This selection, comprising 279 drawings and 38 early editions and now known as the Linder Collection, was formerly on long-term loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum between 1989 and 2019 form the charitable trust, The Linder Trust.
Subjects depicted
Mouse
Collar
Pumps
Wainscoting
Bows
Literary references
  • The History of Sir Thomas Thumb, 1855, p.53 (Illustration by Jemima Blackburn provided inspiration for drawing).
Bibliographic reference
Hobbs, Anne Stevenson (compiler). The Linder Collection of the works and drawings of Beatrix Potter: catalogue of works on paper. London: The Trustees of the Linder Collection, 1996 (1999 reprint). p.46, cat. no. 5.8
Other numbers
  • LOAN:LINDER TRUST.194-1994 - Previous Loan Number
  • 5.8 - Linder Collection catalogue no.
Collection
National Art Library
Library number
LC 21/A/4

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Record createdJuly 29, 2013
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1267771/tom-thumb-watercolour-beatrix-potter/
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