Watercolour
10/1899 (drawn)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Beatrix Potter (1866-1943) is one of the world's best-loved children's authors and illustrators. She wrote the majority of the twenty-three Original Peter Rabbit Books between 1901 and 1913. The Tale of Peter Rabbit (Frederick Warne, 1902) is her most famous and best-loved tale.
Beatrix loved to paint and draw the Great British countryside. She particularly delighted in recording details of the changes that the different seasons brought upon the land. Here a harvest scene is depicted in Potter's own distinctive style, comprising anthropomorphised animals working on the land.
Beatrix loved to paint and draw the Great British countryside. She particularly delighted in recording details of the changes that the different seasons brought upon the land. Here a harvest scene is depicted in Potter's own distinctive style, comprising anthropomorphised animals working on the land.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Watercolour over pencil on paper |
| Brief description | Drawing of procession of mice carrying ears of corn, watercolour over pencil, by Beatrix Potter, Great Britain, 1899, Linder Bequest cat. no. LB.998 |
| Physical description | Drawing in watercolour over pencil of procession of mice carrying ears of corn towards the viewer and into their hole underground. Stooked wheat and purple, green and pink mountains and trees in the background. Design contained in a rectangular box with decorative wheat in close up forming the border. |
| Dimensions |
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| Production type | Unique |
| Gallery label | Potter designed numerous decorative devices for mounting pictures. She favoured floral motifs derived from ‘meticulous copying of flowers & plants’ from life. The daffodils (above) are almost trompe l’oeil (illusionistic), but although the imagery is naturalistic the design itself is a carefully controlled asymmetric arrangement. Below, heads of wheat appear to spill out from the image of the harvest scene they frame, as though through a window.(March 2019) |
| Credit line | Linder Bequest [plus object number; written on labels on the same line as the object number] |
| Object history | Drawn by Beatrix Potter in October 1899. Acquired by the V&A from Leslie Linder (1904-1973) in 1973 as part of the Linder Bequest, a collection of ca. 2150 watercolours, drawings, literary manuscripts, correspondence, books, photographs, and other memorabilia associated with Beatrix Potter and her family. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | Beatrix Potter (1866-1943) is one of the world's best-loved children's authors and illustrators. She wrote the majority of the twenty-three Original Peter Rabbit Books between 1901 and 1913. The Tale of Peter Rabbit (Frederick Warne, 1902) is her most famous and best-loved tale. Beatrix loved to paint and draw the Great British countryside. She particularly delighted in recording details of the changes that the different seasons brought upon the land. Here a harvest scene is depicted in Potter's own distinctive style, comprising anthropomorphised animals working on the land. |
| Bibliographic reference | Hobbs, Anne Stevenson, and Joyce Irene Whalley, eds. Beatrix Potter: the V & A collection : the Leslie Linder bequest of Beatrix Potter material : watercolours, drawings, manuscripts, books, photographs and memorabilia. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1985.
p.110, cat. no. LB.998 |
| Other number | LB.998 - Linder Bequest catalogue no. |
| Collection | |
| Library number | BP.1144 |
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| Record created | October 17, 2013 |
| Record URL |
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