Fairytale illustrations by Eleanor Fortescue Brickdale – the best British Victorian watercolourist

The Victorian era gave the world fantastic stories about elves and fairies, the movement of the Pre-Raphaelites, a return to medieval images and ideals. The last representative of this Victorian art was Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale, a watercolorist who embodied the enchanted world of legends about King Arthur on paper.

Eleanor Fortescue Brickdale was born in 1871 into a family of lawyers famous throughout Norwood. Her father was a successful lawyer, and the family did not know the constraint in money. Young Eleanor studied at home under the supervision of governesses and visiting teachers, carefully guarded from the hardships and vices of the world. However, there were not so many entertainments in her life – no more than a well-bred girl should be in prim Victorian England, where children were ordered to be disciplined and serious almost from birth. Continue reading →