Fairies In Victorian Art

A revised edition of a very popular title, written by one of England's leading experts on Victorian art.

Published to accompany exhibition held at The Royal Academy of Arts, London, 13/11/97 - 8/2/98.

Welcome to an enchanting world populated by the little people — fairies, elves, and sprites — envisioned by such Victorian-era artists as Arthur Rackham, Richard Doyle, Edward Robert Hughes, Warwick Goble, and other masters of the genre. Set amid nature's loveliest scenes, the 30 fantasy illustrations will captivate any colorist.

This book examines the fairy in the work of many Victorian painters, novelists and poets.

Published to accompany exhibition held at The Royal Academy of Arts, London, 13/11/97 - 8/2/98.

The Victorian era saw a flowering of fairy paintings as British artists in particular rejected the classical and ancient Greek subjects in favour of a deeper, closer source of inspiration in the countryside, the hedgerows and the meadows of the nineteenth-century British landscape. This book celebrates the fine art of Fairy painting.

The Victorian fascination with fairyland is reflected in the literature of the period, which includes some of the most imaginative fairy tales ever written. They offer the shortest path to the age's dreams, desires, and wishes. Authors central to the nineteenth-century canon such as Thackeray, Oscar Wilde, Ford Madox Ford, and Rudyard Kipling wrote fairy tales, and authors primarily famous for their work in the genre include George MacDonald, Juliana Ewing, Mary De Morgan, and Andrew Lang. This anthology brings together fourteen of the best stories, by these and other outstanding practitioners, to show the vibrancy and variety of the form and its ability to reflect our deepest concerns. The stories in this selection range from pure whimsy and romance to witty satire and darker, uncanny mystery. Paradox proves central to a form offered equally to children and adults. Fairyland is a dynamic and beguiling place, one that permits the most striking explorations of gender, suffering, love, family, and the travails of identity. Michael Newton's introduction and notes explore the literary marketplace in which these tales appeared, as well as the role they played in contemporary debates on scepticism and belief. The book also includes a selection of original illustrations by some of the masters of the field such as Richard Doyle, Arthur Hughes, and Walter Crane.