Design for a christmas card
Watercolour
ca. 1890 (made)
ca. 1890 (made)
| 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.
In 1890 Beatrix Potter and her brother, Bertram, hoped to buy a printing machine. Bertram suggested that Beatrix sell her imaginary drawings to raise funds. The printer Hildesheimer & Faulkner purchased six designs from Beatrix and printed them as Christmas and New Year cards. This design was probably intended as a design for Hildesheimer & Faulkner. It is on folded paper and there is a sketch of a spray of rose-hips on the front fold. The humour and accurate depictions of animal anatomy seen in Potter’s greetings card designs anticipate her book illustrations.
In 1890 Beatrix Potter and her brother, Bertram, hoped to buy a printing machine. Bertram suggested that Beatrix sell her imaginary drawings to raise funds. The printer Hildesheimer & Faulkner purchased six designs from Beatrix and printed them as Christmas and New Year cards. This design was probably intended as a design for Hildesheimer & Faulkner. It is on folded paper and there is a sketch of a spray of rose-hips on the front fold. The humour and accurate depictions of animal anatomy seen in Potter’s greetings card designs anticipate her book illustrations.
Object details
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| Object type | |
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| Materials and techniques | watercolour and pen and ink on paper |
| Brief description | Watercolour and pen and ink drawing of two rabbits walking in the snow: a design for a Christmas card by Beatrix Potter, drawn in ca. 1890. Great Britain. Linder Bequest cat. no. LB.1786. |
| Physical description | A vignette style design showing two rabbits walking through snow, the left rabbit in a blue coat and the right rabbit in a red coat. The left rabbit holds a basket of vegetables and the right rabbit holds a sprig of mistletoe. Beyond the snowy field a cottage can be seen in the distance, surrounded by bare wintry trees. |
| Dimensions |
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| Style | |
| Production type | Unique |
| 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 ca. 1890. 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. In 1890 Beatrix Potter and her brother, Bertram, hoped to buy a printing machine. Bertram suggested that Beatrix sell her imaginary drawings to raise funds. The printer Hildesheimer & Faulkner purchased six designs from Beatrix and printed them as Christmas and New Year cards. This design was probably intended as a design for Hildesheimer & Faulkner. It is on folded paper and there is a sketch of a spray of rose-hips on the front fold. The humour and accurate depictions of animal anatomy seen in Potter’s greetings card designs anticipate her book illustrations. |
| 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.193; no.1786
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.193; no.1786 |
| Other number | LB.1786 - Linder Bequest catalogue no. |
| Collection | |
| Library number | BP.543 |
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| Record created | April 2, 2015 |
| Record URL |
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