![A frightening figure perched in a tree looks down on a gathering of several white animals, including a fox, lion, bear, wolf, and rabbit, and nearby stands a young man in a plumed hat](/sites-drupal/default/files/styles/max_scale_640x640/public/field_ers_item_record_image/2022-09/CHILD36_r2.png?itok=3TcqlSSh)
Arthur Rackham (1867–1939)
“Instantly they lay still, all turned into stone” illustration for “The Two Brothers”
Pen and ink with watercolor, 1917
The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, Spencer Collection
“Instantly they lay still, all turned into stone” illustration for “The Two Brothers”
When this illustration was first published in 1917, it appeared in the form of colorless line art—a fine showcase for the nuances of Arthur Rackham’s masterful drawing, but lacking the arresting eeriness of this, his watercolor version. Created for a second volume of Rackham’s popular edition of stories by the Brothers Grimm, it shows a suspenseful scene from a tale called “The Two Brothers.” One brother, who after a series of adventures is now king, has just been tricked by a witch (perched in the tree) into turning his faithful menagerie of talking animals into stone. In the next moment, the witch will turn the king himself into stone, and drag him and his companions into her victim-filled cave.
: The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, Spencer …
Not currently on view
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Items in Childhood
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“King Log” illustration by Arthur Rackham
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Arthur Rackham’s original illustration for “The Two Brothers”
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Ludwig Bemelmans’s original drawing for Madeline and the Bad Hat
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Spiritual Milk for Boston Babes
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18th-century hornbook
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Rowland Emett’s original illustration for New World for Nellie
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