Sleeping Beauty (by John Collier) Playing Cards

This design features a painting by the British Pre-Raphaelite artist John Collier (1850–1934). It shows a beautiful woman sleeping in a grand medieval castle. Two of her sisters are kneeling beside the bed feeling sad and sorrowful. The bed has intricate engravings and carvings. There are expensive fabrics in the curtains and in the women's costumes. They are clearly wealthy noblewomen. There is stained glass in the windows, and outside there appears to be verdant woodland. The image may represent the fairy tale known as Sleeping Beauty, which is about a princess cursed by an evil fairy to sleep for a hundred years before finally being awakened by a handsome prince. The original artwork was painted by John Collier in 1929.