Painting
1840-1880 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
The artist Richard Doyle (1824-1883) produced a number of illustrations of elves and fairies, notably for a book called In Fairyland by William Allingham, published in London in 1870. Although he appears to have taken great delight in the colourful details of this miniature world, he also shows the more sinister and cruel side of fairyland. From the watchful malice of the elves spying on the young woman shown here, to fairy children physically tormenting insects, he reminds us that these are creatures that feel no pity.
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Watercolour on paper |
| Brief description | Watercolour 'Wood Elves Watching a Lady' painted in England by Richard Doyle between 1840 and 1880 |
| Physical description | Watercolour painting of landscape proportions, showing a group of twelve or so male elves (some with moustaches) hiding behind the trunk of a large tree in the woods. They are wearing blue-grey trousers and hooded tunics with red caps, and are watching a young woman in a mauve dress walking between the trees and smelling a flower from the basket she carries on her left arm.. |
| Dimensions |
|
| Production type | Unique |
| Marks and inscriptions | R(reversed)D. (conjoined) (Monogram; lower right corner; writing; paint)
|
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | The artist Richard Doyle (1824-1883) produced a number of illustrations of elves and fairies, notably for a book called In Fairyland by William Allingham, published in London in 1870. Although he appears to have taken great delight in the colourful details of this miniature world, he also shows the more sinister and cruel side of fairyland. From the watchful malice of the elves spying on the young woman shown here, to fairy children physically tormenting insects, he reminds us that these are creatures that feel no pity. |
| Bibliographic reference | Maas, Jeremy et al. Victorian Fairy Painting. London : Royal Academy of Arts, in association with Merrell Holbertson Publishers, 1997
50 |
| Other number | 137? (Richard Doyle exhibition) - Exhibition number |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | 1207-1886 |
About this object record
Explore the Collections contains over a million catalogue records, and over half a million images. It is a working database that includes information compiled over the life of the museum. Some of our records may contain offensive and discriminatory language, or reflect outdated ideas, practice and analysis. We are committed to addressing these issues, and to review and update our records accordingly.
You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.
Suggest feedback
You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.
Suggest feedback
| Record created | February 17, 2004 |
| Record URL |
Download as: JSONIIIF Manifest
