Harry Clarke, Irish, 1889-1931
Title: The Snow Queen
Medium: Ink, graphite, watercolour, gouache and glazes, with bodycolour highlights
Dimensions:
40 x 28.2 cm
Signed: lower right: HARRY/CLARKE
Credit Line: Heritage Gift, Lochlann and Brenda Quinn, 2008
Object Number: NGI.2008.89.2
DescriptionClarke presents the Snow Queen as a radiant, statuesque beauty. Adorned with an ornate crown and dressed in an intricately patterned cloak, she emanates a chilling cold; 'She was beautiful and delicate, but of ice - of shining, glittering ice. Yet she was alive; her eyes flashed like two clear stars, but there was no peace or rest in them.' Kai, in ruby red pom-pom shoes and plumed cap, is bewitched by the Snow Queen and imprisoned in her ice palace. The narrative develops into a moral tale about the conflict between good and evil, with good triumphing in the end.
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 Snow Queen"/Second Story/Kay looked at her. She was so beautiful;/that he could not imagine a more/sensible or lovely face; she did not/appear to him to be made of ice now/as before, when she sat at the window/and beckoned to him,/Harry Clarke