Partial border of daffodils
Design
ca.1898-1899 (made)
ca.1898-1899 (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.
Rupert Potter was a major influence on his daughter's artistic development from an early age. In the 1860s he had become fascinated by the new art of photography. He was elected a member of the Photographic Society of London and exhibited regularly at annual exhibitions. During the Potter family's long summer holidays in Scotland and the Lake District it was Beatrix's delight to accompany her father on photographic expeditions. Happy to be by his side and excited by the possibilities of the new art form, she became his favourite and most forbearing subject and later became an avid photographer herself, inheriting one of her father’s old cameras. Beatrix's watercolour drawing of daffodils is one of several border designs in the Victoria and Albert Museum specifically designed as decorative mounts for her father's photographs. Although only one has been used for this purpose, with a photograph pasted onto the design, Beatrix's border designs demonstrate her great fondness for her father and her desire to be associated with his artistic pursuits.
Rupert Potter was a major influence on his daughter's artistic development from an early age. In the 1860s he had become fascinated by the new art of photography. He was elected a member of the Photographic Society of London and exhibited regularly at annual exhibitions. During the Potter family's long summer holidays in Scotland and the Lake District it was Beatrix's delight to accompany her father on photographic expeditions. Happy to be by his side and excited by the possibilities of the new art form, she became his favourite and most forbearing subject and later became an avid photographer herself, inheriting one of her father’s old cameras. Beatrix's watercolour drawing of daffodils is one of several border designs in the Victoria and Albert Museum specifically designed as decorative mounts for her father's photographs. Although only one has been used for this purpose, with a photograph pasted onto the design, Beatrix's border designs demonstrate her great fondness for her father and her desire to be associated with his artistic pursuits.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Partial border of daffodils (generic title) |
| Materials and techniques | Pencil, ink and watercolour on card |
| Brief description | Drawing of yellow daffodils by Beatrix Potter intended as a partial border for a photograph; Linder Bequest cat. no. LB.996. |
| Physical description | Pencil, ink and watercolour drawing of yellow daffodils, intended as a partial border for a photograph. |
| Dimensions |
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| Production type | Unique |
| Marks and inscriptions |
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| 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 ca.1898-1899. Acquired by the V&A from Leslie Linder (1904-1973) as part of the Linder Bequest in 1973. |
| 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. Rupert Potter was a major influence on his daughter's artistic development from an early age. In the 1860s he had become fascinated by the new art of photography. He was elected a member of the Photographic Society of London and exhibited regularly at annual exhibitions. During the Potter family's long summer holidays in Scotland and the Lake District it was Beatrix's delight to accompany her father on photographic expeditions. Happy to be by his side and excited by the possibilities of the new art form, she became his favourite and most forbearing subject and later became an avid photographer herself, inheriting one of her father’s old cameras. Beatrix's watercolour drawing of daffodils is one of several border designs in the Victoria and Albert Museum specifically designed as decorative mounts for her father's photographs. Although only one has been used for this purpose, with a photograph pasted onto the design, Beatrix's border designs demonstrate her great fondness for her father and her desire to be associated with his artistic pursuits. |
| Bibliographic reference | 'Hobbs and Whalley, Beatrix Potter : the V&A Collection, London, 1985'
Brief catalogue entry, no. 996. |
| Other number | LB.996 - Linder Bequest catalogue no. |
| Collection | |
| Library number | BP.1179 |
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| Record created | June 28, 2007 |
| Record URL |
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