"Le Belle au Bois Dormant" (1913)
("Sleeping Beauty")
The Christmas Edition of The Illustrated London News (1913)
Illustration by Kay Nielsen
When first published in the Christmas Edition of The Illustrated London News, this image was associated with the
following text:
A King and Queen, long childless, to their sorrow, rejoiced greatly when at last a
daughter was born to them. Seven fairies stood sponsor at her baptism, but there
appeared also an old fairy, unbidden, for all believed her dead or bewitched. She,
deeming herself slighted, after six Fairies had bestowed good gifts on the child,
declared that the Princess should prick her hand with a spindle and die. Now the
seventh Fairy, foreseeing this malicious intent, had waited to the end to make her
own gift, and pronounced that the maiden should not die, but sleep for a hundred
years. The King proclaimed that none should spin in his kingdom, nor possess a
spindle. But when the Princess was about sixteen years old, in a turret of a certain
castle she chanced upon an ancient dame who sat and span, having never heard
the King's command. The Princess took the spindle, and, pricking herself therewith,
fell into a trance. Seeing the doom was fulfilled, the King bade them lay the Princess
on a fair bed, with raiment of gold and silver. The good Fairy came, at his behest,
and touched with her wand all that were in the castle, and made great trees grow
up about it. After a hundred years, the son of the King then reigning, who was of
another family than that of the Princess, one day while hunting perceived the thick
and lofty wood. From an ancient henchman he learned that in a castle within that
wood lay the loveliest Princess in the world, doomed to sleep for a hundred years
until wakened by a King's son. Then the Prince entered the wood, where none
before him had been able to go, and coming to the castle, found the chamber
where the Princess lay. He knelt and kissed her and the charm was ended. She
awoke, and with her the whole court, and, after they had partaken of a banquet,
the Prince and Princess were wedded in the castle chapel.
The illustration
.jpg) Complete Image |
Single Greeting Card
Code: KN PPP C1 SGC |
%20(Detail).jpg) Detail (for reference) |
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Reproduction on 12x18" sheet
Code: KN
PPP C1 12x18 |
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Reproduction on 20x30" sheet
Code: KN
PPP C1 20x30 |
Our Greeting Cards
When presented on Greeting Cards, these images are prepared as tipped-on plates - in hommage to the hand-crafted
approach typical of prestige illustrated publications produced in the early decades of the 20th Century. Each card is
hand-finished, with the image presented on Ivory card stock with an accompanying envelope. On the rear of each
card we also present some information about Kay Nielsen and this wonderful illustration. We have left the interior
of the cards blank so that you may write your own personal message.
Our large format reproductions
Each of our large format reproductions are prepared with archival quality materials and processes to ensure many years
of enjoyment. In addition, our reproductions are accompanied by explanatory material relating to Kay Nielsen and this
wonderful illustration.
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