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Illustration to 'Sleeping Beauty' - The doves asleep upon the housetops

Watercolour
April 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.

In the 1890s Potter sketched illustrations for fairy tales including Cinderella, Puss-in-Boots, Red Riding Hood and Sleeping Beauty. Her later idea to publish ‘a set of fairy tales in thin volumes’ never materialised, but some of her manuscripts and sketches survive. This design for Sleeping Beauty illustrates ‘the doves asleep upon the housetops’ and was made in March 1899. A preparatory sketch for this design is also in the collection: see museum number BP.438(b). Other designs relating to Sleeping Beauty by Potter, dating from between 1898 and 1902, are in the collection of the Free Library of Philadelphia.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleIllustration to 'Sleeping Beauty' - The doves asleep upon the housetops
Materials and techniques
pen and ink and watercolour on card
Brief description
Pen and ink and watercolour drawing illustrating 'Sleeping Beauty', made by Beatrix Potter in 1899; Linder Bequest cat. no. LB.977.
Physical description
Illustration showing two doves asleep on a rooftop, with a street and distant church in the background. Decorating the outside of the illustration are roses and lines of German text.
Dimensions
  • Support height: 305mm
  • Support width: 240mm
Style
Production typeUnique
Marks and inscriptions
  • 'Dornröschen / Und drefer schlaf verbreitete / sich über das ganze schloz: / De schliesen auch die / Tauben auf dem Dache; der / Mind legte sich, und auf den / Baumen regte sich fein / Blattchen mehr' (Inscribed in ink by the artist in lower right of design.)
  • 'HBP / Ap.99' (Written by the artist in ink, lower left.)
  • '"Sleeping Beauty" The doves asleep upon the housetops. H.B. Potter March 99.' (Inscribed on verso.)
  • '52' (Written in pencil on recto, with guide lines used for sizing design.)
Gallery label
Beatrix Potter must have read a German book of fairy tales. With text taken from Grimm’s Kinder und Hausmärchen (‘Children’s and Household Tales’) she turned a floral border design into an illustration to ‘Sleeping Beauty’. Naturally, Potter chose an extract focussing on animals and illustrated the doves (Tauben) asleep on the roof. The sepia ink imbues a sleepy quality to the scene.(November 2019)
Credit line
Linder Bequest [plus object number; written on labels on the same line as the object number]
Object history
Made by Beatrix Potter in 1899. 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 the 1890s Potter sketched illustrations for fairy tales including Cinderella, Puss-in-Boots, Red Riding Hood and Sleeping Beauty. Her later idea to publish ‘a set of fairy tales in thin volumes’ never materialised, but some of her manuscripts and sketches survive. This design for Sleeping Beauty illustrates ‘the doves asleep upon the housetops’ and was made in March 1899. A preparatory sketch for this design is also in the collection: see museum number BP.438(b). Other designs relating to Sleeping Beauty by Potter, dating from between 1898 and 1902, are in the collection of the Free Library of Philadelphia.
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.108; no.977 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.108; no.977
Other number
LB.977 - Linder Bequest catalogue no.
Collection
Library number
BP.438(a)

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Record createdOctober 13, 2016
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