Title: The Garden of Paradise
Medium: Ink, graphite, watercolour, gouache and glazes with bodycolour highlights
Dimensions:39.2 x 27.6 cm
Signed: upper right: HARRY/CLARKE
Credit Line: Heritage Gift, Lochlann and Brenda Quinn, 2008
Object Number: NGI.2008.89.1
DescriptionThis illustration exemplifies Clarke's inventive use of exuberant pattern and rich colour, evident in the exotically detailed costumes of the fanciful characters he portrays. The tale tells of a Prince who is lured by the delights of the Garden of Paradise and the dancing fairy, surrounded 'by the most beautiful maidens, floating and slender, clad in gauzy mist'. In the end the Prince, ignoring the fairy's warning not to kiss her, gives in to temptation, which causes all to vanish into the black night.
ProvenanceA.& M. Shands, USA, by 1994; The Fine Art Society, London; Heritage Gift, Lochlann and Brenda Quinn, 2008
Exhibition HistoryHarry Clarke: Ten Original Illustrations for Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Fine Art Society, London, 2008
Inscriptionon verso (in ink): The Garden of Paradise./"Now we will begiin our/ dances! Cried the Fairy"./Harry Clarke