Arthur Rackham, RWS,  British 1876-1939-  Illustration from

Lot description

Arthur Rackham, RWS, British 1876-1939- Illustration from 'The Lay of St Aloys': 'Bid the bandy-legg'd Sexton go run for the May'r!'; pen and black ink on paper, signed with initials 'AR' (lower left), with a separate sheet below inscribed 'Ingoldsby Legend / "The Lay of St Aloys" / l.240. "Bid the bandy-legg'd Sexton go run for the May'r!"', 14.5 x 12.8 cm. Provenance: with Chris Beetles, London. Private Collection, UK. Literature: Rev. R.H. Barham, 'The Ingoldsby Legends, or Mirth & Marvels, by Thomas Ingoldsby Esquire, London', J.M Dent & Co., 1898, 'The Lay of St Aloys', p.398 (illustrated). Exhibited: London, Dulwich Picture Gallery, 'Arthur Rackham', 16-21 December 2002, no.9. Note: Rackham was a highly prolific artist who illustrated the 1900 editions of 'Gulliver's Travels' and 'Fairy Tales of the Brother Grimm', as well as the 1898 edition of Richard Barham's (1788-1845) 'Ingoldsby Legends', for which the present drawing was produced. Rackham's distinctive approach exhibits the influence of earlier generations of Victorian 'fairy painters', such as Joseph Noel Paton (1821-1901) and John Anster Fitzgerald (1819-1906), as well as the approach of Glasgow School illustrators such as Frances MacDonald (1873-1921) and Annie French 1872-1965). The draughtsmanship of the present work recalls Rackham's illustration of 'Alice and the Frog Footman' which sold at Sotheby's, New York, on 20 April 2005, lot 85 ($15,600), as well as his drawing which sold at Sotheby's, London, on 19 January 2006, lot 88 (£2,640).