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Still life study of a blue vase with pink and white pelargoniums and double wall sconce
Beatrix Potter, born 1866 - died 1943 - Enlarge image
Still life study of a blue vase with pink and white pelargoniums and double wall sconce
- Object:
drawing
- Place of origin:
England, Great Britain (made)
- Date:
May 1883 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Beatrix Potter, born 1866 - died 1943 (artist)
- Materials and Techniques:
Watercolour on paper
- Museum number:
AR.4:381-2006
- Gallery location:
In Storage
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 began drawing at an early age. By the age of eight she was filling homemade sketchbooks with scientific studies of animals, insects and flowers. Beatrix's parents, Rupert and Helen, nurtured and encouraged Beatrix's extraordinary artistic talent and power of observation. From the age of twelve to seventeen Beatrix was tutored in art by a Miss Cameron and took a formal qualification, the Second Grade Art Student's Certificate, in July 1881. During this period Beatrix produced several conventional still lifes and flower paintings. This study of a vase of pelargoniums and wall sconce was probably one of the last drawings Beatrix produced under Miss Cameron's instruction which concluded in May 1883.
Beatrix always remained sceptical of the value of her art lessons: 'Painting is an awkward thing to teach except the details of the medium. If you and your master are determined to look at nature and art in two different directions you are sure to stick' (Journal, 28 May 1883).
