Artist's Comments
She set out very early the next morning

Illustration for Princess Rosette from The Red Fairy Book, edited by Andrew Lang; published by The Folio Society, 2008.

Pen and ink and watercolour.

File scanned from a proof.

This is probably my favourite illustration from this set. Those of you who have seen my early submissions will know that I approached this tale back in university about five/six years ago, and it has since become something of a mild obsession of mine. I was very pleased that I got to illustrate it professionally, even if it belonged to a collection and I only got to do one illustration for this tale itself.

The illustration shows the queen 'mounted upon a pretty little white mule, which was shod with solid gold, and two of her ladies rode behind her on beautiful horses'; She is seeking advice from the hermit after learning that her longed-for daughter, the Rosette of the title, will in time inadvertently bring death and destruction upon her two sons.