The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse
Watercolour
ca.1900 (drawn)
ca.1900 (drawn)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
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.
Potter's The Tale of Johnny Town-mouse (1918) was published just after the First World War had come to a close. It is based on Aesop's fable, 'The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse'. Potter had previously produced illustrations to accompany this fable in about 1900, before becoming a published author. She liked to choose favourite works of (often children's) literature to hone her skills as an illustrator and near the turn of the century produced original illustrations for Joel Chandler Harris' Uncle Remus (1881), Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865), Edward Lear's The Owl and the Pussycat (1871) as well as fairy tales such as Cinderella and Puss in Boots.
Potter's The Tale of Johnny Town-mouse (1918) was published just after the First World War had come to a close. It is based on Aesop's fable, 'The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse'. Potter had previously produced illustrations to accompany this fable in about 1900, before becoming a published author. She liked to choose favourite works of (often children's) literature to hone her skills as an illustrator and near the turn of the century produced original illustrations for Joel Chandler Harris' Uncle Remus (1881), Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865), Edward Lear's The Owl and the Pussycat (1871) as well as fairy tales such as Cinderella and Puss in Boots.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Parts | This object consists of 2 parts.
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| Title | The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse (assigned by artist) |
| Materials and techniques | Watercolour and pen and ink over pencil on paper |
| Brief description | Drawing, The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse, watercolour and pen and ink over pencil, by Beatrix Potter, Great Britain, ca.1900, Linder Collection object no. LC.21.B.3, catalogue no. 5.2 |
| Physical description | Drawing in watercolour and pen and ink over pencil of two mice standing at a table. The house mouse stands near the head of the table and drinks a glass of red wine and has his fork raised over a plate of food. The field vole is behind the long side of the table and knocks a plate, glass of wine and spoon to the right. Both mice are brown and grey in colour and seen in profile. On the table are bowls and plates, a Dutch cheese on one. In front of the table are blue-rimmed plates, one with three jam tarts, spoons and a green wine bottle. House mouse is standing on a red and gold flat cushion. All on a red and gold patterned fabric. Grey and blue asymmetric border in an organic Art Nouveau style surrounds the scene. |
| Dimensions |
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| Style | |
| Production type | Unique |
| Marks and inscriptions | 'The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse' (In ink over pencil in ornate lettering, underlined twice.) |
| Gallery label | In this early decorative vignette of ‘The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse’, the two characters are not wearing clothes that might help identify them. The elaborate drapery, tablecloth and wine bottle suggest that the mice are at the home of the town mouse, so we deduce that the nervous-looking mouse on the right must be the country mouse.(August 2022) |
| Credit line | Given by the Linder Collection |
| Object history | Given by Leslie Linder (1904-1973) to the National Book League (now the Book Trust) in 1970 as part of a representative selection of Beatrix Potter's work. This selection, comprising 279 drawings and 38 early editions and now known as the Linder Collection, was formerly on long-term loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum between 1989 and 2019 form the charitable trust, The Linder Trust. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Literary reference | Aesop, The town mouse and the country mouse |
| 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. Potter's The Tale of Johnny Town-mouse (1918) was published just after the First World War had come to a close. It is based on Aesop's fable, 'The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse'. Potter had previously produced illustrations to accompany this fable in about 1900, before becoming a published author. She liked to choose favourite works of (often children's) literature to hone her skills as an illustrator and near the turn of the century produced original illustrations for Joel Chandler Harris' Uncle Remus (1881), Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865), Edward Lear's The Owl and the Pussycat (1871) as well as fairy tales such as Cinderella and Puss in Boots. |
| Associated object | LC.21/B/2 (Pair) |
| Bibliographic references |
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| Other numbers |
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| Collection | |
| Library number | LC 21/B/3 |
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| Record created | August 2, 2013 |
| Record URL |
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