In the Rose Garden / So I was flipping through a book of Victorian children's illustration

Giovanna · Back to Top

And found Richard Doyle's 'Flirting.'

If this looks familiar to you, it should!

Just a new sign that SKU is awesome. cool

Crystalline_Dream · Back to Top

Nice catch! What was your reaction when you saw it?

HonorableShadow · Back to Top

That is seriously awesome. emot-biggrin

Giovanna · Back to Top

Crystalline_Dream wrote:
Nice catch! What was your reaction when you saw it?

To be honest, I was flipping through the book to see what it was (we have a lot of books like that) and veered right by it, but had that itch in my butt like I missed something. Sure enough...

It makes you want to question every piece of art for the show that isn't totally within the show's look already. And some of them, too. school-sherlock

Katzenklavier · Back to Top

Wow. Good eye. emot-aaa And whaddya know? I have some info about the artist, Richard Doyle, in my book on his cousin - the good Sir Arthur Conan Doyle! And doooooown the rabbit hole of literary references we go!

'Flirting', also known as 'Flirting, and Stealing' or 'Flirting Fairies', is from a In Fairyland: A Series of Pictures from the Elf-World by William Allingham and Andrew Lang (published in 1869). The book was considered his masterpiece. Of course, naturally, it completely destroyed his career.

If you have an original copy of that book, Gio, you have a freakin' goldmine. It is incredibly rare as only two thousand copies were sold.

I'm not certain if the image is connected to a specific fairytale, but it was definitely used to inspire the illustrations of Thumbelina. Observe an illustration by H.J. Ford from Andrew Lang's Yellow Fairy Book:

Is contemporary artist Katogi Mari an old-school fairytale fan? Or an Utena fan? Here's her recent depiction:

Malacoda · Back to Top

That's pretty cool! I wonder how many other pieces of official art and in show scenes are based off well known pieces of art? I know there's that scene with Mikage and probably a few things from the movie.

Riri-kins · Back to Top

Gosh, who knew? I hope that's not considered plagiarism.

Atropos · Back to Top

Riri-kins wrote:
Gosh, who knew? I hope that's not considered plagiarism.

If you switch the colors around, you can call it homage.

eri401 · Back to Top

This is amazing!

The show is totally full of famous art references. I still remember a scene with Mamiya lying in bed and it was drawn to mimic Manet's Olympia.
This website links up all the inspirations:

#1 | Back to Top08-21-2012 09:15:45 PM

So I was flipping through a book of Victorian children's illustration

#2 | Back to Top08-22-2012 05:21:05 PM

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#3 | Back to Top08-22-2012 07:32:22 PM

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#4 | Back to Top08-23-2012 11:38:12 AM

Re: So I was flipping through a book of Victorian children's illustration

Crystalline_Dream wrote:

#5 | Back to Top08-23-2012 08:56:31 PM

Re: So I was flipping through a book of Victorian children's illustration

#6 | Back to Top08-23-2012 11:53:33 PM

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#7 | Back to Top08-24-2012 02:26:45 PM

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#8 | Back to Top08-24-2012 03:31:33 PM

Re: So I was flipping through a book of Victorian children's illustration

Riri-kins wrote:

#9 | Back to Top08-26-2012 09:57:54 PM

Re: So I was flipping through a book of Victorian children's illustration

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