"Thorn Rose" by Errol Le Cain

Thorn Rose is the Brothers Grimm version of Sleeping Beauty (titled Little Brier-Rose) and one of my favorite illustrators, Errol Le Cain, created a stunning set of illustrations for it. Being the current hot topic fairy tale in entertainment at the moment (and that I haven't ever posted more than a couple of these illustrations), I thought I'd treat you to the set.

I decided to include most of the close-ups I found as well, so you can really see the detail in the illustrations (not just "bits" but design motifs, story touches, uses of shadow and shape and much more. It's really amazing to see how much is in these drawings and yet they're still beautiful to look at without being overwhelming.

Does it look familiar? Maybe you remember Botticelli’s Prima Vera. The branches are very much like the windows we see later, though less thorny.

Botticelli's Prima Vera

This also shows the arrival of the evil fairy at the christening. She is furious at being left out. You cant see it so clearly in this picture, but she is surrounded by autumn leaves, a nice contrast to the springtime of the “prima vera” fairies.

The thirteenth fairy's wings are like a wind-bufffeted, decaying flower turning into a storm cloud. In fact, the whole aspect of the thirteenth fairy recalls a storm. Also note the dragon staff she has as well.

Notice the evil fairy overlooking this, sitting up there on her little dragon, while the good fairy sadly looks on the destruction, toting a spindle-like wand. Also note the babyBrier Rose reaching out to the spindles as they go by below...

Can you see the little devil-fairy-imps that surround her?

Check that window design - an echo of the wall of thorns to come

As a bonus, I found a wonderful paper on Errol Le Cain's illustration as manuscript illumination by Veronica Ortenberg West-Harling and I am posting some excerpts from it below. (You can read the whole article which goes into much more depth, HERE.)

…all of these carry out a strong medievalist flavour in their choice of decoration and visual cues. First and foremost of these cues is the repeated representation of the fairyland multi-turreted castle, whether as a background illustration in the opening or closing pages in King Arthur's Sword and in Molly Whuppie (where it serves as a contrast to the Giant's house in the forest), or as the main focus of the story in Thorn Rose, Cinderella, and Twelve Dancing Princesses. This leitmotif is joined by a variety of medieval images, constructed from various sources, most notably in Thorn Rose, where the opening page weaves subtly in a picture based on late medieval French and Italian costumed ladies, in front of a tent with pennant, as seen in the Lady with the Unicorn tapestries or in paintings by Uccello, moving about in a millefleurs landscape* of the kind so often seen in such tapestries of hunting or courtly love parties. The next page fairy procession, also travelling through the forest at night in a millefleurs setting, includes a fairy riding a unicorn. 

The fifteenth-century setting continues through the castle style and courtiers' dress, and develops the Gothic theme of nature as it encroaches more and more on the palace through the growing wall of thorns, until the prince arrives, a hundred years later, correctly attired in Renaissance dress, to wake up the princess. All full-page illustrations in Sir Orfeo refer specifically to a fifteenth-century court: headdresses, caparisoned horses, knights in Crusader tabards are all present. This medieval fantasy style is used by Le Cain for the upper socialechelons of king, princesses and courtiers, often appearing seated at banquets, dressedin the appropriate brocades, furs and headgear. By contrast, a second type of medievalinspiration, used for the 'below stairs' folk, for example the castle's kitchen in Thorn Rose, or the giant's house in Molly Whuppie, comes from Flemish painting, especially Brueghel, in imitation of the peasants' costumes, activities and human types (the fat cook, the kitchen maid plucking a fowl, the round-faced children). 

Fascinating stuff! While I've been aware that one of the reasons I love Le Cain's work is because it reminds me of tapestries such as The Lady and the Unicorn series, I'd never thought about the motifs and more in such detail. The more I see, the more I see - the balance of shapes and colors, the repeated motifs, the repeated patterns and layouts echoing various pages - it's astonishing work.

I remain in awe of this illustration every time I see it.
Do I detect a Klmit influence in there as well? If so, I LOVE this version of the style.

 Notice her hair has been spun into the spiderwebs, and the stained glass shadows on her blankets.

The article, in which the author has obviously looked at the medieval motif and tapestry aspects in great detail, is very interesting and well worth the read, especially if you are interested in design or illustration. Recommended!

*Millefleurs landscape - I even like how it sounds. I'm all inspired to paint a whole wall  in this tapestry-like background! Unfortunately, I don't think our landlord would be quite as thrilled (though you never know...)

If the Shoe Fit, Why Did It Slip?

It's the Cinderella question you perhaps-not-so-secretly wondered about. 

While we ponder this (with some help from Tabled Fables and The Guardian) I thought I'd showcase the GORGEOUS illustrations by Errol le Cain (that I could find) for Cinderella or The Little Glass Slipper. I've never seen them all in one place or in sequence so I thought it might be nice to simulate that somewhat. Enjoy! And now to the (sticky?) question:

✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ (click the "Read more" link below this line) ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ 

The Great 'Sleeping Beauty' Rewrite (III of IV)

If you missed Tuesday's post on Diamonds & Toads, I suggest you go read it so you'll know more about where these lovely short story retellings have come from.

As promised, here are the rest of the stories (and their authors) that entered the Diamonds & Toads contest. Their stories are published on a special page for all to read them. Please note, these are in no particular order, though I will be making another special mention today. The winner of the contest will have a special post all to herself in a couple of days (August 22nd). :)

A sincere thank you (again) to Kate Wolford of Diamonds & Toads for helping me put these posts together!

“Sleeping Beauty,” by Victoria Zhou, is notable for its extremely determined and mean villainess, Jade.

Diamonds & Toads comment: This story had an extremely compelling villainess, which made it stand out among the entries.

“Cinderella,” by Tom Mollica, turns the whole fairy tale theme on its head. “Cinderella” just happens to be the heroine’s name, and she falls into her sleep because of an aunt who is so anti-alcohol, she sets a spell on Cinderella to cause her to fall into her deep sleep based on one sip of champagne. A jolly story.

Diamonds & Toads comment: Kookie aunts, beer, a sleeping beauty named "Cinderella" -- I enjoyed this irreverent tale.

“Cupcake Princess,” by Jennifer Alberts, is a story set in a little French town, where the heroine is really just the daughter of the most talented bakers an author could dream up. This story is filled with references to confections, making it a foodie’s dream story.

Diamonds & Toads comment: How could I not love a story about cupcakes? A very yummy tale.

“Saving Beauty,” by Heather Spiva, clearly shows the reader how tough life would be for the parents of any “Sleeping Beauty,” character. Serious in tone, the story even has a Cain and Abel twist.

Diamonds & Toads comment: This was intriguing because it involved fostering the endangered heroine, and I liked the dedication.

“Sleeping Beauty 2009,” by Tyffany D. Neiheiser, has many of the conventional elements of the original tale, except dad is a doctor, and the “evil” force in the story, Aunt Destiny, in the end, is the one who brings our heroine happiness. For who can deny Destiny?

Diamonds & Toads comment: This story was such fun, because it was set in the suburbs, and the author did some smart work with "Destiny."

“A Gift Returned,” by Liz Chernov, features a schoolteacher hero and a villainess who keeps going even after the happy ending for hero and heroine. Dreaming is used as an intriguing way of letting the couple communicate.

Diamonds & Toads comment: I loved this entry because it had a charming hero and a well-drawn villainess.

Today's special mention is:

“The Sleeping Beauty Mystery,” by Carl Macek, which features a detective hero who brings Humphrey Bogart’s old movies to mind. Yet, it has a modern flavor to it as well, and is light and amusing.

Diamonds & Toads comment: I am a total sucker for a mystery. I can truly say that I thought this story was great fun!

And here's a brief excerpt from the beginning of "The Sleeping Beauty Mystery":

The package was delivered to my office, Charlie Prince Investigations, without a return address. I suppose somebody at the Post Office had finally decided to clean out a couple of their dead letter files and put some effort into delivering the previously undeliverable. But when I saw the ratty condition of the homemade cardboard envelope that was sitting outside my office door, I wasn’t all that eager to open it. I kept thinking about the people that I’d heard of who’d found out the hard way that what they thought was Aunt Agnes’ famous fruitcake turned out to be a letter bomb. The way I figured it, I had a fifty-fifty chance of coming out alive. I just closed my eyes and ripped the cardboard package apart.

What I found inside was an old VHS tape. I hadn’t seen one of those “antique” plastic cassettes for nearly 25 years. There was a piece of white tape along the spine with the words “Please Help” scrawled with a thick black marker pen. It took me almost two weeks to find someone who had an old video tape player that worked so that I could even watch the stupid thing. And by that time my curiosity was sufficiently piqued. But I wasn’t prepared for what I found recorded on that antiquated relic...

To keep reading, click HERE.

Stay tuned for the winning entry - coming in a couple of days on August 22nd.

NOTE: All images and close-ups are from Errol Le Cain's "Thorn Rose". Click on the sleeping dog at the head to find out more about this amazing animator and illustrator. He illustrated many fairy tales! The other pictures you can click on for a closer view - highly recommended.