Wednesday, January 4, 2012

"The Marsh King's Daughter" Illustrations

The Marsh King's Daughter by Anne Anderson


I'm finally posting my slow-growing collection of illustrations for The Marsh King's Daughter (by Hans Christian Andersen) illustrations. If you've been reading this blog for a while you'll know that this is one of my longtime favorite fairy tales, despite all the heavy handed religious aspects of the second half. I haven't included every single one if there were multiple pictures by one artist so if you look at the links (each name should link you to their work or the image source).

Papercut - Maria Dorte

Anne Anderson
Brochure - Artist Unknown
Contest "Disney's New Musical" Winner by Ashamyn
Dugald Stewart Walker
Harry Clarke
Lorenz Frølich (1820-1908)

Frølich's drawings really feel like they fit the story in mood and story telling style.  I really like them.
Postage stamp -  Lorenz Frølich (1820-1908)
Lorenz Frølich (1820-1908)
Lorenz Frølich (1820-1908)
Esben Hanefelt Kristensen
Arnold Thornam
The Walt Disney Company
Kay Nielsen
Kinuko Y. Craft
Book Illustration 1926 The Marsh King's Daughter - Artist Unknown
Arthur J. Gaskin
I wish he had illustrated more aspects of the story. I love this style of illustration.
Ricki Klages
Marsh King's Daughter, Egyptian Princess - Artist Unknown (can't find image source either)

Dugald Stewart Walker
Tiziana Gironi
Volquartz
This looks really interesting! There is a whole section of the site dedicated to this production. Only problem is it's in Danish (I think).
W. Heath Robinson
Avi Katz
Oscar Klever
This is one of my favorites in the collection here. It really seems to fit the mood of the story and  manages to incorporate many of the elements without feeling like a mural.

Rex Whistler
I really like this one too.
amytaluuri
This looks much nicer large but I wish the artist had dug a little further into the story and incorporated more key elements.
drawmeapicture (silk dye on silk)
W. Heath Robinson
W. Heath Robinson
I can't find Andersen's own papercut work for The Marsh King's Daughter online, and my H.C. Andersen fairy tale collection book which is printed with his original papercuts as the illustrations, is packed away in storage right now. I do know that it has a stork, a baby and marsh reeds and it isn't a "mirror image" or snowflake-type cut. When I find it - or find my book - I'll add it to the post.

There was also at least one animation made of this story which I remember seeing somewhere back in the 70's too. Not all of it seems to be on YouTube but what parts there are, are below:



I'm surprised there aren't many more illustrations floating around for this story. There are so many things going on in this one, it's rich fodder for an artist's imagination. (This illustration HERE by Beatriz Martin Vidal isn't based on the fairy tale  - which is why I haven't included it in the collection here - but it would work well both for Frog King or for The Marsh King's Daughter.)

I'm certain I saw some illustrations in my childhood that have helped keep this story so vivid in my imagination all these years - especially regarding scenes the beautiful but scary and out-of-control wild child Helga, of the transformation from vicious Viking girl to toad-like creature and of the nurses kindness. Either that or the story really spoke to me strongly at the time and I created my own in my head!

I have a favor to ask: if you find, create, make any new or different illustrations from those posted here (ie by other artists), please email me or put a comment below and let me know - or send me a copy (with artist credited if at all possible). I'll add it to these and give you finder's credit/artist's credit (whichever is appropriate).

Also, as per my previous post, I recently realized my Marsh King's Daughter inspired short story, Torn, was no longer available to read on the web anywhere, so I've made a dedicated page here at Once Upon A Blog so it will have a (hopefully) permanent home.
by Tom Mazzocco
You can click the tab labeled TORN under the Once Upon A Blog header or just click HERE to read.

5 comments:

  1. Thank you for the beautiful images, and all of the source links!

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  2. hi, love your collections here!
    found this but don't know who the illustrator is and not sure if you don't have it yet, check it out:
    http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/mysearch.php?searchWords=marsh+king%27s+daughter&mySubmit=Search

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  3. I just purchased from an estate sale a large 33 x 26 (that includes frame) print of the "The Marsh King's Daughter" called Water Baby" illistrated by W. Heath Robinson. I was trying to determine the age of this print and who might have published the print. It is framed in a beautiful simulated march reed designed frame. It is in immaculate condition with beautiful matting which probably covers up any copyright information. Does anyone know if any of these prints exist or maybe how many were published? I am trying to find out more about the print without disassembling the back in order to see if more info exists under the matting. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
    Paula

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  4. For the image you describe as "Marsh King's Daughter, Egyptian Princess - Artist Unknown (can't find image source either)" the artist's name is included in the filename:
    Marsh Kings Daughter Egyptian_Princess_by_TheodorMelmoth.jpg

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  5. Hi, thank you for putting up this collection. There is two versions at https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Marsh_King's_Daughter with Heath Robinson and Dugald Stewart Walker illustrations. The images are collected at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:The_Marsh_King%27s_Daughter

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