Studies of mice dancing
Drawing
ca.1897 (drawn)
ca.1897 (drawn)
| 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.
This sheet of sketches includes three studies of mice dancing. It has been suggested that the mice sketches are early designs for the mice dancing in Potter’s Ninny Nanny Netticoat, a rhyme and illustration first conceived in 1897 that was redrawn for Cecily Parsley’s Nursery Rhymes (published 1922). The finished verse goes:
Ninny Nanny Netticoat,
In a white petticoat,
With a red nose, -
The longer she stands,
The shorter she grows.
There is also some relationship with an illustration in The Fairy Caravan (published 1929; p.164 in the 1992 Frederick Warne edition), which shows three mice dancing: one is quite similar to the drawing on the left of this sheet. Mice were an important feature of Potter’s work, perhaps most famously in her book The Tale of the Two Bad Mice (published 1904) and in this and the other titles mentioned she looked back at earlier sketches as a source of inspiration.
This sheet of sketches includes three studies of mice dancing. It has been suggested that the mice sketches are early designs for the mice dancing in Potter’s Ninny Nanny Netticoat, a rhyme and illustration first conceived in 1897 that was redrawn for Cecily Parsley’s Nursery Rhymes (published 1922). The finished verse goes:
Ninny Nanny Netticoat,
In a white petticoat,
With a red nose, -
The longer she stands,
The shorter she grows.
There is also some relationship with an illustration in The Fairy Caravan (published 1929; p.164 in the 1992 Frederick Warne edition), which shows three mice dancing: one is quite similar to the drawing on the left of this sheet. Mice were an important feature of Potter’s work, perhaps most famously in her book The Tale of the Two Bad Mice (published 1904) and in this and the other titles mentioned she looked back at earlier sketches as a source of inspiration.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Studies of mice dancing |
| Materials and techniques | pen and ink and pencil on paper |
| Brief description | Studies of mice dancing by Beatrix Potter, ca.1897; Linder Bequest cat. no. LB.1026. |
| Physical description | Three studies of mice dancing on a single sheet. |
| Dimensions |
|
| Style | |
| Production type | Unique |
| Marks and inscriptions | Note Inscribed on folder (no longer in use) by Leslie Linder, 'Sketches for rhymes'. |
| 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.1897. 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. This sheet of sketches includes three studies of mice dancing. It has been suggested that the mice sketches are early designs for the mice dancing in Potter’s Ninny Nanny Netticoat, a rhyme and illustration first conceived in 1897 that was redrawn for Cecily Parsley’s Nursery Rhymes (published 1922). The finished verse goes: Ninny Nanny Netticoat, In a white petticoat, With a red nose, - The longer she stands, The shorter she grows. There is also some relationship with an illustration in The Fairy Caravan (published 1929; p.164 in the 1992 Frederick Warne edition), which shows three mice dancing: one is quite similar to the drawing on the left of this sheet. Mice were an important feature of Potter’s work, perhaps most famously in her book The Tale of the Two Bad Mice (published 1904) and in this and the other titles mentioned she looked back at earlier sketches as a source of inspiration. |
| 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.116. no.1026
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.116. no.1026 |
| Other number | LB.1026 - Linder Bequest catalogue no. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | BP.1015(iii) |
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| Record created | August 24, 2016 |
| Record URL |
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