"Fairy with Owls" by Doyle - Print

Richard "Dickie" Doyle, 1824-1883 was a notable Victorian illustrator. His work frequently appeared, amongst other places, in Punch Magazine; he drew the cover of the first issue, and designed the magazine's masthead, a design that was used for over a century. Doyle was born in London. The young Doyle had no formal art training other than his father's studio, but from an early age displayed a gifted ability to depict scenes of the fantastic and grotesque. Throughout his life he was fascinated by fairy tales. He joined the staff of Punch in 1843 aged 19, remaining there for seven years. In 1846 Doyle's illustrations for The Fairy Ring (a new translation of Grimm's tales), first made his name as a fairytale illustrator. Following this in 1849 he produced Fairy Tales from All Nations , which proved a tremendous success. Doyle was able to fully explore his love of fairy mythology with his many illustrations and borders filled with elves, pixies and other mythical creatures. His masterpiece is undoubtedly In Fairyland, a Series of Pictures from the Elf World, printed published in time for Christmas 1869 (dated 1870). The folio was richly bound in green cloth, and has been described as one of the finest examples of Victorian book production. He was the uncle of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes stories. Fairy with Owls is from In Fairyland, a Series of Pictures from the Elf World and was painted in 1870. The cute, little boy fairy in the painting is nestled in between to large owls while a long-beaked bird is trying to take his hat off. They are all well hidden in dense foliage.