Title: The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweeper
Medium: Ink, graphite, watercolour, gouache and glazes with bodycolour highlights
Dimensions:38.8 x 27.8 cm
Signed: lower right: Harry/CLARKE
Credit Line: Heritage Gift, Lochlann and Brenda Quinn, 2008
Object Number: NGI.2008.89.6
DescriptionThis tale describes a romance between two porcelain figurines, a shepherdess and a chimney sweep, which stand side-by-side on a table top. Their love is threatened by a porcelain 'Chinaman', who tries to force the shepherdess to marry a carved satyr. The lovers flee to the rooftop, where the shepherdess gazes upon the vast world and takes fright. They return to discover that the 'Chinaman', in his pursuit, has fallen and broken to pieces. The lovers are safe at last.
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 Shepherdess & the Chimney-Sweeper./"Have you really courage to go into the wide world with me?" asked the Chimney-Sweeper./Harry Clarke