Trial of the Knave of Hearts
Drawing
January 1894 (made)
January 1894 (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.
When Beatrix Potter was presented with a copy of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland as a child, she was immediately ‘absorbed with Tenniel’s illustrations’. Before publishing her own stories, Potter illustrated fairy tales and classic texts, including Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, to amuse herself and to develop her technique. In the 1890s her pet rabbit, Peter Piper, became the model for Potter’s own illustrations of the White Rabbit. In this drawing he is seen as the herald addressing the court during the trial of the Knave of Hearts. Potter has included the White Rabbit’s announcement of the charges against the Knave within one of the playing cards included in the decorative border:
‘The Queen of Hearts, she made some tarts,
All on a summer’s day.
The Knave of Hearts, he stole those tarts,
And took them quite away!’
When Beatrix Potter was presented with a copy of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland as a child, she was immediately ‘absorbed with Tenniel’s illustrations’. Before publishing her own stories, Potter illustrated fairy tales and classic texts, including Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, to amuse herself and to develop her technique. In the 1890s her pet rabbit, Peter Piper, became the model for Potter’s own illustrations of the White Rabbit. In this drawing he is seen as the herald addressing the court during the trial of the Knave of Hearts. Potter has included the White Rabbit’s announcement of the charges against the Knave within one of the playing cards included in the decorative border:
‘The Queen of Hearts, she made some tarts,
All on a summer’s day.
The Knave of Hearts, he stole those tarts,
And took them quite away!’
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Trial of the Knave of Hearts |
| Materials and techniques | pencil, pen and ink and watercolour on paper and card |
| Brief description | Pencil, pen and ink and watercolour illustration to Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, showing the Trial of the Knave of Hearts, by Beatrix Potter, January 1894; Linder Bequest cat. no. LB.971. |
| Physical description | An illustration in pencil and pen and ink on white paper, with a white rabbit addressing a court; there are owls in the foreground and soldiers in the background. The paper is laid down on a larger piece of card, which includes a border decorated with playing cards, one inscribed as detailed below. |
| Dimensions |
|
| Production type | Unique |
| Marks and inscriptions |
|
| Credit line | Linder Bequest [plus object number; written on labels on the same line as the object number] |
| Object history | Drawn by Beatrix Potter in January 1894. 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. When Beatrix Potter was presented with a copy of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland as a child, she was immediately ‘absorbed with Tenniel’s illustrations’. Before publishing her own stories, Potter illustrated fairy tales and classic texts, including Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, to amuse herself and to develop her technique. In the 1890s her pet rabbit, Peter Piper, became the model for Potter’s own illustrations of the White Rabbit. In this drawing he is seen as the herald addressing the court during the trial of the Knave of Hearts. Potter has included the White Rabbit’s announcement of the charges against the Knave within one of the playing cards included in the decorative border: ‘The Queen of Hearts, she made some tarts, All on a summer’s day. The Knave of Hearts, he stole those tarts, And took them quite away!’ |
| 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.106; no.971
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.106; no.971 |
| Other number | LB.971 - Linder Bequest catalogue no. |
| Collection | |
| Library number | BP.454 |
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| Record created | November 16, 2016 |
| Record URL |
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