Three little Mice sat down to spin
Watercolour
ca. 1892 (drawn)
ca. 1892 (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.
A number of Beatrix Potter’s narrative sequences of drawings were inspired by nursery rhymes. She explored the rhyme ‘Three little mice sat down to spin’ in around 1892, envisaging an illustrated booklet, possibly in a concertina format. She made detailed pen and ink studies and six finished watercolours: one for each line of the nursery rhyme (she omitted the last two lines of the usually eight-line rhyme). Potter also made a title-page and six decorated text pages. However, although the booklet reached this advanced stage of preparation it was never published. The fourth design, however, ‘Making coats for Gentlemen’, was adapted for her later book, The Tailor of Gloucester (1903).
The nursery rhyme, as she used it, reads:
Three little Mice sat down to spin
Pussy passed by, and she peeped in
‘What are you at, my fine little Men?’
‘Making coats for Gentlemen’
‘Shall I come in, and cut off your threads?’
‘Oh no! Miss Pussy, you’d bite off our heads’
This finished watercolour illustrates the first line of the rhyme, ‘Three little Mice sat down to spin.’ For a related pen and ink study, see museum number BP.634(2).
A number of Beatrix Potter’s narrative sequences of drawings were inspired by nursery rhymes. She explored the rhyme ‘Three little mice sat down to spin’ in around 1892, envisaging an illustrated booklet, possibly in a concertina format. She made detailed pen and ink studies and six finished watercolours: one for each line of the nursery rhyme (she omitted the last two lines of the usually eight-line rhyme). Potter also made a title-page and six decorated text pages. However, although the booklet reached this advanced stage of preparation it was never published. The fourth design, however, ‘Making coats for Gentlemen’, was adapted for her later book, The Tailor of Gloucester (1903).
The nursery rhyme, as she used it, reads:
Three little Mice sat down to spin
Pussy passed by, and she peeped in
‘What are you at, my fine little Men?’
‘Making coats for Gentlemen’
‘Shall I come in, and cut off your threads?’
‘Oh no! Miss Pussy, you’d bite off our heads’
This finished watercolour illustrates the first line of the rhyme, ‘Three little Mice sat down to spin.’ For a related pen and ink study, see museum number BP.634(2).
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Three little Mice sat down to spin |
| Materials and techniques | watercolour and pen and ink on paper |
| Brief description | Watercolour showing three mice spinning, illustrating the rhyme 'Three little mice sat down to spin', drawn by Beatrix Potter, ca.1892; Linder Bequest cat. no. LB.1066 |
| Physical description | Watercolour and pen and ink drawing showing three mice in an interior, spinning. The mice sit in bent-wood chairs (identified as Gebrüder Thonet make) and work at their spinning wheels in a low panelled room with a loom and recessed window. |
| Dimensions |
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| Style | |
| Production type | Unique |
| Marks and inscriptions | 'HBP.' (Inscribed in pencil by the artist, lower right. ) |
| 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. 1892. 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. A number of Beatrix Potter’s narrative sequences of drawings were inspired by nursery rhymes. She explored the rhyme ‘Three little mice sat down to spin’ in around 1892, envisaging an illustrated booklet, possibly in a concertina format. She made detailed pen and ink studies and six finished watercolours: one for each line of the nursery rhyme (she omitted the last two lines of the usually eight-line rhyme). Potter also made a title-page and six decorated text pages. However, although the booklet reached this advanced stage of preparation it was never published. The fourth design, however, ‘Making coats for Gentlemen’, was adapted for her later book, The Tailor of Gloucester (1903). The nursery rhyme, as she used it, reads: Three little Mice sat down to spin Pussy passed by, and she peeped in ‘What are you at, my fine little Men?’ ‘Making coats for Gentlemen’ ‘Shall I come in, and cut off your threads?’ ‘Oh no! Miss Pussy, you’d bite off our heads’ This finished watercolour illustrates the first line of the rhyme, ‘Three little Mice sat down to spin.’ For a related pen and ink study, see museum number BP.634(2). |
| Bibliographic references |
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| Other number | LB.1066 - Linder Bequest catalogue no. |
| Collection | |
| Library number | BP.634(8) |
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| Record created | September 2, 2016 |
| Record URL |
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