The Rabbits' Christmas Party: The Arrival
Watercolour
ca. 1892 (made)
ca. 1892 (made)
| Artist/Maker |
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.
This drawing is one of a narrative series of four finished watercolours in the Linder Bequest known as ‘The Rabbits’ Christmas Party’. The sequence begins with the arrival of the rabbits at the party. They are then shown enjoying their Christmas dinner and roasting apples in front of the fire before their departure at the end of the evening. Potter gave the four drawings to her aunt, Lucy Roscoe, her father’s sister. Another pair of scenes related to the series are known, in which the rabbits dance and play Blind Man’s Buff.
In this, the first in the series of four held at the V&A, five rabbits smartly dressed in blue coats and holding umbrellas are show battling the winter weather to arrive at the Christmas party. Three further rabbits peep out of the window as they watch the new arrivals approaching. Anne Stevenson Hobbs has drawn a comparison between the umbrella carrying characters of this scene and Renoir’s painting Les Parapluies (The Umbrellas), which, she notes, Potter is in fact unlikely to have seen.
This drawing is one of a narrative series of four finished watercolours in the Linder Bequest known as ‘The Rabbits’ Christmas Party’. The sequence begins with the arrival of the rabbits at the party. They are then shown enjoying their Christmas dinner and roasting apples in front of the fire before their departure at the end of the evening. Potter gave the four drawings to her aunt, Lucy Roscoe, her father’s sister. Another pair of scenes related to the series are known, in which the rabbits dance and play Blind Man’s Buff.
In this, the first in the series of four held at the V&A, five rabbits smartly dressed in blue coats and holding umbrellas are show battling the winter weather to arrive at the Christmas party. Three further rabbits peep out of the window as they watch the new arrivals approaching. Anne Stevenson Hobbs has drawn a comparison between the umbrella carrying characters of this scene and Renoir’s painting Les Parapluies (The Umbrellas), which, she notes, Potter is in fact unlikely to have seen.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | The Rabbits' Christmas Party: The Arrival (generic title) |
| Materials and techniques | Watercolour and pen and ink over pencil on paper |
| Brief description | Watercolour showing rabbits arriving at a house in the snow, from the series 'The Rabbits' Christmas Party'; by Beatrix Potter, ca.1892; Linder Bequest cat. no. LB.1003. |
| Physical description | A square composition with rabbits dressed in blue coats and holding umbrellas arriving at a house on a winter's day. |
| Dimensions |
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| Style | |
| Production type | Unique |
| Marks and inscriptions | 'HBP.' (Inscribed in ink by the artist, lower right.) |
| Gallery label |
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| Credit line | Linder Bequest [plus object number; written on labels on the same line as the object number] |
| Object history | Drawn by Beatrix Potter ca. 1892 and given to her aunt Lucy Roscoe. 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. This drawing is one of a narrative series of four finished watercolours in the Linder Bequest known as ‘The Rabbits’ Christmas Party’. The sequence begins with the arrival of the rabbits at the party. They are then shown enjoying their Christmas dinner and roasting apples in front of the fire before their departure at the end of the evening. Potter gave the four drawings to her aunt, Lucy Roscoe, her father’s sister. Another pair of scenes related to the series are known, in which the rabbits dance and play Blind Man’s Buff. In this, the first in the series of four held at the V&A, five rabbits smartly dressed in blue coats and holding umbrellas are show battling the winter weather to arrive at the Christmas party. Three further rabbits peep out of the window as they watch the new arrivals approaching. Anne Stevenson Hobbs has drawn a comparison between the umbrella carrying characters of this scene and Renoir’s painting Les Parapluies (The Umbrellas), which, she notes, Potter is in fact unlikely to have seen. |
| Bibliographic references |
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| Other number | LB.1003 - Linder Bequest catalogue no. |
| Collection | |
| Library number | BP.1471(a) |
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| Record created | March 18, 2016 |
| Record URL |
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