"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...)

Up Next From Disney: Live Action "Beauty & the Beast" (& some lovely illustrations in the meantime)

Penelope Cruz & Jeff Bridges by Annie Leibovitz for Disney Parks Dream Portraits Series

Note: I wanted to post something different image-wise so all the illustrations shown below are by HILARY KNIGHT except for the stained glass window sequences/images - which are from the Disney animated classic Beauty and the Beast. Please click on images to view full size.

And it's going to be Disney's Beauty and the Beast, they're basing it on, not the fairy tale(s), of course BUT it still means they're going to have to create a Beast (and, if they go the full route, talking dinnerware etc too) so someone has quite the challenge to make it come off well. It's a no-brainer money-maker but has so many risks involved creating the world of the animated feature too.

My cynical side is wondering if this had anything to do with why the Gans film hasn't made it across the English-speaking border but realistically, the Disney movie is so far off it's unlikely to have been considered much of a challenger. You never know though. I have no doubt audiences in the US, UK & Aus would have flocked to see the French film just for the lush visuals and classic fairy tale and then it would remain a comparative project. However, Guillermo Del Toro has had his highly anticipated Beauty and the Beast project with Emma Watson in development for a long time now, getting ever-so-slowly closer to starting production (it was supposed to start this Spring but there's been no word) so perhaps Disney is taking advantage of the gap, or gambling on the marketing from dueling projects. I guess we shall see...

Here's the official word from Variety:

With the recent release of “Maleficent,” which grossed more than $170 million worldwide in its opening weekend, Disney is working fast on its next live-action fairy-tale adaptation. Bill Condon is set to direct a live-action version of “Beauty and the Beast” for Disney. Evan Spiliotopoulos is writing the script with Mandeville Films producing.  

Condon is best known for his hit feature adaptation of the musical “Dreamgirls,” and his experience in helming a film with strong musical elements will help this film, which could very easily go down that path. Condon also penned the script to the widely successful adaptation of musical “Chicago.” He also delivered two of the best reviewed films in the “Twilight” series and most recently adapted the script to Fox’s “The Greatest Showman on Earth.”

So what do you think? Are you interested? 

                   

While I'm not bowled over by the news (and it's no surprise as it's been rumbling around for a while - this is just confirmation that it's actually happening) I'm definitely curious as to what they will do since it can't be exactly the same as the animated classic (it just wouldn't translate to live action). This means there is the possibility that other elements will be included in the movie, whether historical or cultural placement, older tale sources, even other legends that might inform the new script (Cyrano anyone?). I am curious if they're going to include anything from the fairy sequence shown in stained glass images in the animated film (see images below).

Prologue and end scene stained glass windows from Disney's Beauty and the Beast

It happened to Maleficent and the inspiration of Spenser's Faerie Queene informs more of the movie than not, which was surprising but also wonderful. Unfortunately, what didn't translate to the screen for those unfamiliar with older tales, was the ancient sense and respect/fear of Faerie people commonly used to have, (so apparently people were confused as to why the humans had an uneasy relationship with the Fae to start with). One of the novelizations laid it out in the prologue, being part of an earlier shooting script, but it didn't make it to the final cut. Apparently, the idea is something which, (to judge from a large number of "educated critics'" comments), people today are mostly unaware of unless they already love old fae legends and sensibilities. (When exactly did this knowledge go from general to obscure?? Was it when our books of fairy tales - the lesser known, mixed with the popular ones, fell out of circulation?)

                    

The live action Beauty and the Beast is less likely to be a revisionist tale (like Maleficent is) but more of a remake of the Disney classic though, so I'm not holding my breath. Although it will be interesting to see what they do with the Beast in particular, (as many stunning Belle cosplays and photoshoots that they've been, every Beast attempt has... not), I must admit I'd be much more excited if they were tackling something entirely new.

By the way, here is the book those lovely illustrations are from. I definitely recommend it for your personal library.