Three mice running from a cat at the window
Drawing
ca. 1892 (drawn)
ca. 1892 (drawn)
| 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.
A number of Beatrix Potter’s narrative sequences of drawings were inspired by nursery rhymes. She explored the rhyme ‘Three little mice sat down to spin’ in around 1892, envisaging an illustrated booklet, possibly in a concertina format. She made detailed pen and ink studies, including the present drawing, and six finished watercolours: one for each line of the nursery rhyme (she omitted the last two lines of the usually eight-line rhyme). Potter also made a title-page and six decorated text pages. However, although the booklet reached this advanced stage of preparation it was never published. The fourth design, however, ‘Making coats for Gentlemen’, was adapted for her later book, The Tailor of Gloucester (1903).
The nursery rhyme, as she used it, reads:
Three little Mice sat down to spin
Pussy passed by, and she peeped in
‘What are you at, my fine little Men?’
‘Making coats for Gentlemen’
‘Shall I come in, and cut off your threads?’
‘Oh no! Miss Pussy, you’d bite off our heads’
This pen and ink drawing relates to a finished watercolour illustrating the line ‘What are you at, my fine little Men?’ which shows the mice running away from the cat. For the more finished version, see Museum number BP.634(10).
A number of Beatrix Potter’s narrative sequences of drawings were inspired by nursery rhymes. She explored the rhyme ‘Three little mice sat down to spin’ in around 1892, envisaging an illustrated booklet, possibly in a concertina format. She made detailed pen and ink studies, including the present drawing, and six finished watercolours: one for each line of the nursery rhyme (she omitted the last two lines of the usually eight-line rhyme). Potter also made a title-page and six decorated text pages. However, although the booklet reached this advanced stage of preparation it was never published. The fourth design, however, ‘Making coats for Gentlemen’, was adapted for her later book, The Tailor of Gloucester (1903).
The nursery rhyme, as she used it, reads:
Three little Mice sat down to spin
Pussy passed by, and she peeped in
‘What are you at, my fine little Men?’
‘Making coats for Gentlemen’
‘Shall I come in, and cut off your threads?’
‘Oh no! Miss Pussy, you’d bite off our heads’
This pen and ink drawing relates to a finished watercolour illustrating the line ‘What are you at, my fine little Men?’ which shows the mice running away from the cat. For the more finished version, see Museum number BP.634(10).
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Three mice running from a cat at the window |
| Materials and techniques | pen and ink with pencil on paper |
| Brief description | Drawing; pen and ink drawing showing three mice running away from a window, related to the rhyme 'Three little mice sat down to spin', drawn by Beatrix Potter, ca.1892; Linder Bequest cat. no. LB.1075 |
| Physical description | Pen and ink drawing showing three mice running away from a window, where a cat's head can be seen. |
| Dimensions |
|
| Style | |
| Production type | Unique |
| Gallery label | This illustration accompanies a nursery verse entitled ‘Three little mice sat down to spin’, published posthumously in 1971. The pencil sketch shows clearly how Potter has constructed the design. The pattern formed by the tails of the mice reflects their panicked scattering away from the window. The spinning wheels frame the group but one is cut off at the left, emphasizing the animals’ narrow squeak escape.(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, ca. 1892. 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. A number of Beatrix Potter’s narrative sequences of drawings were inspired by nursery rhymes. She explored the rhyme ‘Three little mice sat down to spin’ in around 1892, envisaging an illustrated booklet, possibly in a concertina format. She made detailed pen and ink studies, including the present drawing, and six finished watercolours: one for each line of the nursery rhyme (she omitted the last two lines of the usually eight-line rhyme). Potter also made a title-page and six decorated text pages. However, although the booklet reached this advanced stage of preparation it was never published. The fourth design, however, ‘Making coats for Gentlemen’, was adapted for her later book, The Tailor of Gloucester (1903). The nursery rhyme, as she used it, reads: Three little Mice sat down to spin Pussy passed by, and she peeped in ‘What are you at, my fine little Men?’ ‘Making coats for Gentlemen’ ‘Shall I come in, and cut off your threads?’ ‘Oh no! Miss Pussy, you’d bite off our heads’ This pen and ink drawing relates to a finished watercolour illustrating the line ‘What are you at, my fine little Men?’ which shows the mice running away from the cat. For the more finished version, see Museum number BP.634(10). |
| Bibliographic references |
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| Other number | LB.1075 - Linder Bequest catalogue no. |
| Collection | |
| Library number | BP.634(4) |
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| Record created | September 1, 2016 |
| Record URL |
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