Arthur Rackham is one of my favorite Victorian children’s illustrators, so I was happy to pick up “Forest Nymphs” from FoxSmartBox. FoxSmartBox calls this image “Forest Nymphs”, but I’ve seen it more commonly labeled “Wood Nymphs” — for instance, at the NYPL digital collection, in an illustration of John Milton’s Comus (1634), published in 1921. For a work conceived of as an homage to chastity, the subtle nippling of the fairies was pretty entertaining (to me, anyway).
I started it yesterday, finished it today. Wow, look at that edge — that irregular border, along with similar pieces on the inside, made things a little trickier than one might expect. That was a common theme in this cut — some identical piece-cuts here and there, and some similar-but-not-identical, lending a bit of extra challenge and requiring careful attention to the (highly detailed) original art. Overall, I enjoyed the puzzling.
We are told to check out the back for “the story”, but I don’t really get “the story” … I see some multi-piece whimsies. Is this a story? Am I just graphically blind?
230 Pieces
🖼️ Completed size 10.3″ x 13.5″ (262 x 343 mm)
