The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 20, 2024

The Wren and the Bear

The Wren and the Bear

1902
(British, 1867–1939)
England, early 20th Century
brush and wash
Sheet: 36.7 x 25.8 cm (14 7/16 x 10 3/16 in.)
Gift of Mrs. Ralph Perkins in memory of Coburn Haskell 1946.8
Location: not on view

Description

The battle depicted here between flying and land animals is from the fairy tale “The Wren and the Bear.” The bear insults the wren, the king of the birds, leading to a war. Most of Arthur Rackham’s best-known illustrations combine intricate line
work with delicate coloring (see works nearby). However, he also produced some silhouette illustrations like this one, created for a luxury edition of Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm. The illustration won a gold medal at the 1906 Milan
International Exhibition, where it was exhibited as The Battle between the Air and the Earth.
  • {{cite web|title=The Wren and the Bear|url=false|author=Arthur Rackham|year=1902|access-date=20 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1946.8