ORIGINAL ARTWORK
LOTS 296-311
POTTER, BEATRIX. "The Three Witches of Birnam Wood." Original watercolor drawing. 1878. 353 x 254 mm. (13 7/8 x 10 in.), some surface damage around edges from previous matting; matted. Signed and dated by Potter in pencil at lower left: "Helen Beatrix Potter 1878."
Details
POTTER, BEATRIX. "The Three Witches of Birnam Wood." Original watercolor drawing. 1878. 353 x 254 mm. (13 7/8 x 10 in.), some surface damage around edges from previous matting; matted. Signed and dated by Potter in pencil at lower left: "Helen Beatrix Potter 1878."
An unusual figurative subject by the young Beatrix, no doubt inspired by her summer vacations in Perthshire and her immersion in Shakespeare and folklore. "From the time she was 5 until she was 15 Beatrix spent every summer in Perthshire at Dalguise House, an elegant mansion overlooking the Tay near Dunkeld. It was a place of magic and enchantment for the little girl, a place where her senses were first awakened to the sights and sounds of the wild life around her, the bark of the roe-deer, the scent of the heather. She explored the woods on the extensive estate, and she drew and painted all that she saw"--Judy Taylor, "The Story of Beatrix Potter," p. 12. See Hobbs, Beatrix Potter's Art, p. 29 ("Several of Beatrix's pictures have Shakespearian titles, but this seems to be the only true illustration").
An unusual figurative subject by the young Beatrix, no doubt inspired by her summer vacations in Perthshire and her immersion in Shakespeare and folklore. "From the time she was 5 until she was 15 Beatrix spent every summer in Perthshire at Dalguise House, an elegant mansion overlooking the Tay near Dunkeld. It was a place of magic and enchantment for the little girl, a place where her senses were first awakened to the sights and sounds of the wild life around her, the bark of the roe-deer, the scent of the heather. She explored the woods on the extensive estate, and she drew and painted all that she saw"--Judy Taylor, "The Story of Beatrix Potter," p. 12. See Hobbs, Beatrix Potter's Art, p. 29 ("Several of Beatrix's pictures have Shakespearian titles, but this seems to be the only true illustration").
Literature
Anne Stevenson Hobbs, Beatrix Potter's Art, (London, 1989), illustrated on p. 28.